Ii6 The h-ish Naturalist June. 1911. 



Mr. Ussher's wisdom in not admitting it into his "List of Irish Birds," 

 despite certain statfuu^nts as to its having been several times obtained in 

 this country. Of course, no one will doubt the correctness of the iden- 

 tification made by Mr. Williams, and I am very glad that he did not wish 

 to liave the bird shot. But I think the probability of it having received 

 assisted passage into Ireland should not be overlooked. 



C. B. Moffat. 

 Dublin. 



Dace in Ireland. 



Last autumn Mr. J. E. Godfrey sent me for identification two fish, 

 taken from a shoal observed in the Blackwater between the lishing weir 

 and bridge at Lismore. The external characters and the pharyngeal 

 teeth show them to be Dace {Leiiciscns vulgaris, Fleming), a fish which, 

 so far as I am aware, has not previously been noticed in Ireland, though 

 it is generally distributed in suitable waters in England and Wales. 

 The Lismore shoal was locally regarded as the descendants of the con- 

 tents of a bait can emptied into the river by a keeper some years, 

 previously. Why any one should try to bring Dace as live bait from 

 England or Wales I do not know, but, as they are very intolerant of this 

 method of conveyance, it seems unlikely that the attempt would be 

 successful. Moreover, Mr. F. H. Keane, of Ardmore, writes me that 

 between 1873 and i88u ho used to catch below Lismore Britlge fish which 

 his grandfather, the late Archdeacon Cotton, told him were Dace. Mr. 

 Cotton had been a Thames fisherman in his young days, and no doubt 

 knew Dace quite well ; while Mr. Kcane's account of their habits accords 

 with my own experience of them in the Thames and elsewhere. It 

 seems reasonable to suppose that Dace are truly indigenous in the Black 

 water. Their recent abundance may be due to vigorous measures taken 

 against the Pike in that river. The specimens, which are not in the best 

 condition, have been handed over to the National Museum. 



Dubhn. E. W. L. Holt. 



BOTANY. 



Recent Notices of Irish Plants. 



In the Journal of Botany for November, H. Stuart Thompson discusses 

 H. N. Williams' record (in his Prodromus Florae Britannicae, part 7, 1910) 

 of Armeria alpina from Kerry, and in the same number supplements his 

 previous notes on South Kerry Plants. In the February number of the 

 the same journal, Wm. West writes on the flora of a wall-top at Water- 

 ville, Co. Kerry. In the Ai)iil number A. D. Cotton discusses the 

 Britannic species of Lithophyllum, and gives Irish records ; and the 

 editor contributes brief notices, with portraits, of H.'C. Hart, S. A. Stewart, 

 and E. P. Wright, taken from the notices and portraits i)ul)lished in the 

 Irish Naturalist. The Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society for 

 November contains an article by R. LI. Praeger on " The Wild -flowers 

 of the West of Ireland, and their History," with four plates, being the 

 substance of a lecture delivered in the ])rece(iing .\pril. 



