70 PROFESSOR EDWARD FORBES. 



By ascending one of the glens, south of Ballaugh, but still in that 

 Sheading, (so called,) we are soon in a different kind of country — in 

 the heart of the hilly part of the island, quite sub-alpine in character. 

 Here the mosses are not low and flat, but commonly high and inclined, 

 becoming constant feeders to the rivulets. They abound with the 

 usual plants — Drosera rotundifolia, Pinguicula, AnagaUis totella, Scutellaria 

 minor, Hypericum elodes, Wnldenhergia, Aspidium Oreoptcris, Lijcopodia, 

 Bryum punctatum, and, no doubt, others. Frequent waterfalls are here 

 formed, where the streams flow down their rocky beds, and especially 

 where they leave the slate rock for the boulder clays, which the water 

 more easily scoops out. Such is the case at the Spoogt-vane, a pretty 

 cascade, situated in a retired amphitheatre, south of Ballaugh. It is 

 less frequented than Khenass or Glen Meay, and to some, therefore, 

 perhaps as pleasing, though these are certainly romantic, the last even 

 approaching the grand, whez'e the river finally trends through the rocky 

 ravine to the sea. There are the remains of a Ti-een Chui'ch in the 

 wood, near the Spoogt-vane Cascade. The river abounds with a small 

 dark-coloured trout.* 



[to be continukd.] 



THE EAY AND PAL^ONTOGEAPHICAL SOCIETIES 

 AN APPEAL. 



BY W. R. HUGHES, ESQ., F.L.S. 



As the principal object of our Union is to promote the study of 

 Natural History, I venture to bring before its members the claims which 

 these admirable Societies have to their sjTnpathy and support. 



Perhaps no better illustrations could be given of the successful 

 combination of numbers in effecting results, which are equally beyond 

 the reach of private means on account of their costliness, and of pubUc 

 enterprise on account of the risk and uncertainty of sale, which many 

 of the publications — mostly of a technical nature — would involve. 



It is, therefore, not too much to say that, except for the existence of 

 these Societies, many most valuable works in Natural History — on which 

 the talented authors have devoted years of labour as well as much 

 expense — would never have been pubhshed. 



Having, at the request of my friend, Sir. "Wm. Mathews, jun., M.A., 

 F.G.S., (who held the oflice of local honorary secretary to both Societies 

 for upwards of twenty years,) undertaken to succeed him in the duty of 

 collecting the subscriptions and distributing the volumes, and thus feeling 

 more than an ordinary interest in the welfare of the Societies — this 

 circumstance must be my apology for introducing the subject to the 

 notice of the members of our Union, many of whom are doubtless more 

 familiar than I am with the splendid works which they have issued. 



♦ 1 Ra.there(\ Uyperirum aiulroscemum, ani nieracium sylvaticum hclow the 

 fall ; and at Glen Meay, Vicia sijlvatica and Erodium 7naritimu)n. 



