136 



The Irish Naturalist. 



PHANEROGAMS. 

 Hicracium cerinthiforme (Backh. in litt.), F. J. Han- 

 bury, In Co. Kerry.— In the Journal of Botany (1886, p. 19) Rev. W. 

 R. Linton and myself gave a form of H. angiuum, Fr., for Mount 

 Brandon as "being in onr judgment the var. decipiens, Syme," not speak- 

 ing more definitely, as Mr. Backhouse spoke doubtfully of our naming. 

 The other day Mr. Hanburv was with me looking over all my anglicum 

 forms, and at once called the Brandon plant H. cerinthiforme. This 

 justifies the name we gave, as the plant we then called decipiens, Syme 

 (? the var. amplexicaule, Lond. Cat., 7th edition), has since been raised to 

 specific rank as H. cerinthiforme by Mr. Hanbury. As such it has probably 

 not been noticed for Kerry. We were very possibly wrong in stating in 

 the same paper (p. 18) that we found Alisma nutans in deep water, as well 

 as A. repens, Davies, at the margin. It is very likely that the plants out 

 in the lake, without floating leaves, may have been the same with the 

 marginal plant ; we thought at the time they were different ; but the 

 deep water plant ought to have been grown, if we had then had the 

 means to see which it really was. A. nutans must not stand for Kerry on 

 our notice of it. — Edward F. Linton. 



ZOOLOGY. 



MOLLUSCS. 



The Common Mussel (Mytilus edulis) in Belfast Lough. — 



This bivalve has long been abundant in Belfast Lough. Large beds of 

 them existed near low water mark at the edge of the Holywood Banks, 

 and considerable quantities used to be brought into Holywood and used 

 as food. This practice has to a large extent ceased of late. A few years 

 ago a demand for mussels sprang up from Scotland, where they were 

 used as bait in the East Coast fisheries. This Scotch demand in time 

 assumed large dimensions. Several boats' crews were daily engaged 

 during the winter and spring months dredging for mussels, and pulling 

 them up in bunches from the bottom by means of strong iron rakes 

 constructed for the purpose. The mussels were then conveyed to 

 Belfast, in the boats that had taken them, during the latter part of the 

 flood tide, and loaded on board of the Glasgow and Ardrossan steamers, 

 after which the boats would drop down on the ebb tide to resume their 

 work. The undernoted figures will show the dimensions this industry 

 attained to in the year 1889, when over-fishing had its usual result, the 

 following years showing a marked decline, till, in 1892-93, the trade 

 virtually ceased altogether, diminished supplies having made it no 

 longer worth following. Simultaneously with this the dredging of the 

 new channel was going on. This important local work cut right 

 through the point of Holywood Bank, where the principal mussel beds 

 were situated, and virtually destroyed these ; but, as since appears, the 

 mussels were not exterminated ; they only shifted their quarters ; and, 

 this spring, new beds, recruited by the few years rest, were discovered ; 

 and, the Scotch demand reviving, these beds proved fruitful and re- 

 munerative. Often, during February and March this year, have I seen 

 from 15 to 18 boats engaged in mussel fishing, and an almost similar 

 number, at a different time of the day, putting their takes on board of 

 the Scotch steamers. The extraordinary and sudden development of 

 this trade, after an interval of almost total cessation, will be best seen 

 from the undernoted official figures, for which I am indebted to the 

 courtesy of Mr. W. A. Currie, Secretary to the Belfast Harbour Com- 

 missioners. These valuable mussel-beds should be afforded the 

 protection they require to prevent a repetition of the virtual semi* 

 extermination that so lately occurred, 



