220 The Irish Naturalist. C Sept., 



On Saturday afternoon Scharff and McWeeney had to leave 

 for Dublin, much to their regret, so they did not join the 

 party which started at lo.o in a wagonette for some extensive 

 boo-s to the northward. We first examined a wood near 

 Ty'cooly House, and then spread out over the adjoining bog. 

 Here Praeger made an interesting find, the Brown Beak-rush 

 (Rhynchospora fusca\ a very rare plant in the British Isles, and 

 in Ireland known previously only from stations much nearer 

 the western ocean. It was subsequently found again growing 

 in profusion on bogs at Killasolan, with its congener R. alba. 

 Tramping over an extensive bog, we visited the banks of the 

 Shiven River, which were ornamented with tufts of Royal 

 Fern, and came back by the Killasolan bogs. A rapid drive 

 brought us back in time for dinner, and a long evening among 



our specimens. ^ r.-u -d- ^ 



Sunday dawned fine. At breakfast specimens of the Birds- 

 nest Orchis {Ncottia Nidiis-avis) were produced by Praeger, 

 gathered under beech-trees not far from the house. His 

 morning ramble had a more important result, for a pondweed 

 collected in the Clonbrock River, and at the time unknown, is 

 believed by Mr. Arthur Bennett to be a new form of the rare 

 Potamo^don layiceolatus ; study of the growing plant will, it 

 is hoped, settle its identity. M'Ardle, Halbert, and Praeger 

 were early afoot, and investigated the bog beyond the " Lurgan 

 Plantation" and the Clonbrock River adjoining. In the after- 

 noon, accompanied by Lord and Lady Clonbrock, we explored 

 the Deer-park, and pushed on to Doon, where the abundant 

 Orchid-flora of that place-including the Bee Orchis, Marsh 

 Helleborine, Sweet-scented Orchis, Butterfly Orchis Frog 

 Orchis, Tway-blade, and others-was again studied with 

 admiration and interest. Specimen of Cholcva jnmata, a beetle 

 new to Ireland, occurred in dead birds in the woods. 



On Monday morning we drove eastward to the River Suck, 

 which here bounds the counties of Galway and Roscommon, 

 and spent some highly profitable hours collecting along its 

 banks in the neighbourhood of Bellagill bridge. This place 

 yielded a rich haul of flowering plants to the botanists, though 

 poor in cryptogams ; while the entomologists secured m 

 TrccMis discus a ground-beetle new to Ireland, and m Erzrrhzjms 

 cEthioi^s a very rare weevil. But our work was doomed to 

 interruption in the afternoon. The rain, which had threatened 



