»9i3- \,v:r]L\—/)otanists of the i^oytli of Inla?id. 33 
James Shanks, born 4tli November, 1854, died 2nd 
November, 1912, at Ballyfounder, near Portaferr}^ was an 
intelligent and successful farmer, who for his recreation 
studied the botany, archaeology, and geology of the district 
of Little Ards, in County Down. He took a great interest 
in the native plants of his locality, and every year exhibited 
large collections of the wild flowers of the Ards at all the 
local flower shows. He had made himself a pyramidal 
revolving stand for these occasions, which held a great many 
flowers, and enabled all to be easily examined by the 
visitors. Mr. Shanks was of a retiring and modest disposi- 
tion, and never made a parade of his learning. 
ADALARIA PROXIMA 
AN ADDITION TO THE IRISH NUDIBRANCH FAUNA. 
BY NATHANIEL COLGAN, M.R.I. A. 
At the monthly meeting of the Dublin Microscopical^ 
Club held on the nth December last, Professor Bayley 
Butler exhibited some living nudibranchs which he had 
dredged the day before in about 2 fathoms in the Malahide 
River. The specimens, which were handed over to me 
for identification, included, in addition to Mgires puncti- 
lucens, Goniodoris nodosa, and Eolis Drummondi, all 
previously recorded for this locality, two small pale yellow 
Dorids about 11 mm. in length. On a superficial exami- 
nation of these I referred them, not without hesitation, 
to Doris aspera of Alder and Hancock, a species which is 
already on record for the Malahide River as well as for other 
stations on the Dublin coast, and which occasionally 
occurs in yellowish forms though usually pure white. 
About a fortnight later, however, having found time to 
examine the radula or lingual ribbon of one of the specimens, 
the peculiar form of this organ placed it beyond all doubt 
that the species was not Doris aspera of Alder and Hancock, 
but D. proxima of the same authors. 
