6o The Irish Naturalist. March, 1911. 



DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 



January ii. — The Club met at Leinster House. A. R. Nichols 

 (President), in the chair. 



Dr. G. H. Pethybridge showed the parasitic fungus Peridermiwn 

 Pini I. cotticola, producing the so called " Bladder Rust " on the Scots 

 Pine. The examples were from the woods of Mr. R. J. Ussher, J. P., at 

 Cappagh, Co. Waterfortl, where the fungus is causing very considerable 

 damage. There are two of these rusts which attack Scots Pine belonging 

 to f. corticola. The life-history of one has been known for some time, the 

 aecidial stage being found on the bark of this tree, and the uredo and 

 teleuto-stages occur on such plants as Vincetoxicum, Paeonia. Nemesia, 

 &c. None of these second hosts are, however, found naturally in Ireland, 

 and it is improbable that the fungvis exhibited was the one which is now 

 known as Cronartiuni asclepiadeum (Willd.), Fr. The secondary hosts of 

 the second species remained long unknown in spite of the fact that a large 

 amount of research was carried out in order to discover them. A year or 

 two ago, however, Dr. Liro showed that a rust found in Finland on tlie 

 leaves of certain species of Lousewort, and previously described as Uredo 

 Pedicidaris, Dietr., could l)e artificially produced by infecting Lousewort 

 leaves with spores of the Bladder-rust on the Scots Pine. Hence this rust 

 has now been named Cronartiuni Peridermium-Pini (Willd.), Liro. It is 

 probably this species that occurs at Cappagh, and the uredo-stage on 

 Lousewort should be looked for there. Attacks of this kind on Scots Pine 

 are by no means common, and tliis is the first recorded occurrence of this 

 fungus in Ireland if not in Great Britain. 



R. Southern showed a specimen of the Sabellid worm, Bispira 

 voliUacoruis, Montagu. This specimen was found by Miss Delap in 

 Valencia Harbour. It is the only one so far obtained in Irish waters. 

 It is the largest species of this group on our shores, and it is surprising 

 that it has been overlooked so long, especially in such a well-worked 

 district as Valencia Harbour. This species is found in the western part 

 of the English Channel, and in the Mediterranean, and is a notable 

 addition to the Lusitanian group. 



BELFAST NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



January 25. — Geological Section. — Robert Bell showed a coral 

 new to the district, which he discovered in the angulatus zone of the 

 Lower Lias at Hillsport, and which has been determined by Mr. Lang 

 to be Isastraca endothctata (Duncan). 



S. A. Bennett, B..\., B.Sc. of Campbell College, Belfast, gave a 

 lecture on " The Lower Carboniferous Rocks of the North Staffordshire 

 Coalfield." In the course of the discussion A. R. Dwerryhouse, F.G.S., 

 emphasised the equivalence in point of time of the Pendlesides and the 

 Yoreilales of the North of England. 



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