igit. The Clare Islinid Survey. lit 



which an idea may be gained of the extent of the work, 

 and the thoroughness with which it is being carried out. 

 The whole (which will form vol. xxxi. of the Proceedings of 

 the Academy) will consist of a series of sixty-seven reports, 

 dealing with almost every section of the fauna and flora of 

 the area, and much in addition. Thus, following on a 

 general description of the area and narrative of the investiga- 

 tions (by R. LI. Praeger) will come an account of the 

 history and archaeology of the island (by T. J. Westropp), 

 and of the place-names (by the same and J. H. Lloyd). 

 There will follow meteorology (W. J. Lyons), geology 

 (Professor Cole), peat deposits (F. J. Lewis), and tree 

 growth (A. C. Forbes). It will be seen that the services in 

 each subject of the men best qualified in Ireland for the 

 respective tasks have been secured, and that where no 

 specialist was available in Ireland help has been called in 

 from across the Channel, as in the case of Mr. Lewis, whose 

 researches on the Scottish peats are widely known. The 

 same principle runs through the whole series. Thus, while 

 in botany we find the names of Canon Lett, D. M'Ardle and 

 R. LI. Praeger opposite the names of those groups in which 

 they are well-known workers, we see that Sir H. C. Hawley 

 and Carleton Rea have been called in to work out the 

 Fungi, Miss Lorrain Smith of the British Museum the 

 Lichens, A. D. Cotton of Kew Herbarium the Marine Algae, 

 and William West the Diatoms, &c. 



The zoology of the series presents a formidable aspect, 

 embracing no less than fifty reports on as many groups. 

 Many of these are groups which have either been hitherto 

 almost or totally unworked in Ireland, or on which very 

 little recent work has been done ; such, for instance, are 

 the Diptera, Pseudoscorpiones, Arctiscoida, Rotifera, several 

 groups of worms, Porifera, Infusoria, Flagellata, Mycetozoa, 

 Rhizopoda, and Heliozoa ; the working out of these groups 

 is sure to add very largely to our knowledge of them in 

 Ireland. In the preparation of these fifty faunistic reports 

 almost all our Irish zoologists are taking part. We notice 

 the names of Balfour Browne, Barrett-Hamilton, Carpenter, 

 Colgan, Farran, Foster, Halbert, W. F. Johnson, Kane, 

 Nichols, Pack-Beresford, Patten, Rankin, Sherrard, Scharff, 



