4 . The Irish Naturalist. January, 



The Spanish term, pcrros lebrcles, used in this passage is, 

 however, the equivalent of the Enghsh word, greyhound : — 



The common wolf is rare because few sheep arc kept or because the 

 country being overspread with farmsteads the animals are chased and 

 killed as soon as they are sighted, and for this work the hounds brought 

 into the country from Ireland are excellent. 



A Foretaste of Darwinism. — In the chapter already 

 quoted from as containing a reference to St. Dabeoc's 

 Heath, Bowles makes the following remark on the pigs of 

 the mountain country between Roncesvalles and St. Jean 

 Pied-de-Port :— 



I remarked that the hogs of all this country had stiff erect ears like 

 the wild boars, because they live at large in the open country as the 

 boars do. 



Tree-bearing Capacity of Mountains. — The chapter 

 on Biscay, which, amongst other things, notes the abundance 

 there of the Arbutus {Madrono) in natural groves and of St. 

 Dabeoc's Heath in the open grounds, has the following 

 curious passage : — 



It will not be out of place to repeat here the observation, however 

 trite it may appear, that mountainous countries such as Biscay do not 

 produce according to their superficies, but according to their base ; for 

 since plants grow up vertically, the ground in oblique superficies cannot 

 maintain more plants or trees than would be maintained by a plane 

 surface equal to the base, just as we cannot erect on the sides of a 

 triangle more vertical lines than we can erect on its base. 



Dissemination of Plants by Lizards. — The following 

 remarks which occur in a chapter on the Tree-fungi of 

 Biscay {De diierentes Especies de Agaricos que se crian en 

 los Arboles) would appear to be quite original and to show 

 that Bowles's views were in advance of his time : — 



In the northern countries of Spain by reason of their humidity, many 

 mosses grow on walls and on old and hollow trees. These mosses decay 

 and form a vegetable soil in which many plants spring up, because the 

 seeds are carried there by the winds and the birds and the lizards. The 

 greater part of the seeds of these plants pass uninjured through the 

 stomachs of these animals ; for I myself have observed tliat the lizards 

 swallow the seeds of the violet and deposit them in the walls along with 

 their eggs. 



Dissemination of Plants by Cattle. — Bearing on 

 this subject of plant dissemination is another passage which 

 occurs on p. 391 in a chapter describing a journey from 

 Bayonne to Madrid by Elizonda and Pamplona. Observing 



