April, 191 1. The Irish Naturalist. 61 



THE SURVEY OF CLARE ISLAND. 



Report of Progress during 1910. 

 by r. lloyd praeger. 



(A report laid before the Royal Irish Academy, z-jW\ Febraary, 1911.) 



In a report laid before the Academy on 8th November, 

 1909, and piibhshed in the following issue of this Journal, 

 I gave an account of the work carried out during that year 

 in connection with the Natural History Survey of Clare 

 Island and its neighbourhood. During the year 1910 work 

 has proceeded steadily, so that we may confidently look 

 forward to finishing the field-work by the end of the forth- 

 coming season. 



The first working party of 1910 took the field at Easter, 

 which fell in the last week of March. F. Balfour-Browne 

 and A. W. Stelfox worked for water-beetles and mollusca 

 respectively in the Louisburgh, W'estport and Achill 

 districts, the latter subsequently proceeding to Belmullet. 

 On the island, W. J . Lyons set up meteorological instruments, 

 Prof. C. J. Patten studied the birds, and R. LI. Praeger 

 completed his vegetation map. All returned in about a 

 week. On March 31, F. J. Lewis commenced his work 

 on the peats of the district, spending ten days on the north 

 side of Clew Bay, camping out in very severe weather. 



A special Clew Bay marine party took up their quarters 

 at Belclare from May 6 until May 12, and devoted a 

 tempestuous and bitterly cold wfeek to shore-collecting and 

 dredging. N. Colgan added considerably to his list of 

 marine Mollusca ; Miss Stephens collected Sponges ; A. R. 

 Nichols, Polyzoa ; W. Rankin, Decapoda ; and Miss M'Nab 

 and R. LI. Praeger rendered general assistance. In addition 

 to the groups mentioned, a good deal of collecting was 

 done in a number of other groups. 



The fresh-water Algae of the island were worked on 

 May 14-22 by William West, who also made valuable 

 collections of Lichens and Bryophytes. 



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