NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 



Rev. E. O'Meara on Irish Diatomaceae. — Those of the 

 readers of this Journal interested in the Diatomacese, 

 forming as they do a considerable section of its sup- 

 porters, -vvill be glad to have their attention directed to 

 the recent work of that able and practised observer in that 

 "wide field, the Eev. Eugene O'Meara, whose contributions 

 have frequently ere now added to the value of these pages. 

 Under the seemingly somewhat insufficient title of " Report 

 on the Irish Diatomaceae," part i, that author has published, 

 in the ' Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy,' vol. ii, 

 ser. ii. No. 4, October, 1875, what is really by no means a 

 mere catalogue (as might possibly be supposed from the 

 title) of the forms found in Ireland, but it in reality amounts 

 to a comprehensive Monograph (or will be when the second 

 part appears) of the whole of the Irish species in the 

 Diatomaceae, accompanied by critical remarks on the views 

 of his predecessors as to identification and specific spe- 

 cialities, and by a reference to the works of foreign con- 

 temporary authors. "Whilst the wide experience and 

 protracted researches of the author, in various parts of 

 the island, extending over several years, have enabled him 

 vastly to extend the number of the older-known species 

 recorded as Irish in Smith's 'Synopsis' (1853 and 1856), he 

 has likewise, from time to time, introduced to the notice of 

 microscopists many new species in this family, which, so far 

 as they are Irish, are here recorded. It is a matter of regret 

 that means were not at command to have illustrated the work 

 more copiously, by giving figures of all the species, or at 

 least of those (a great number truly) not to be found in 

 Smith's ' Synopsis.' If there is something to be desired as 

 regards the execution of the nevertheless numerous figures 

 representative of the genera, or of, in the author's view, their 

 sub-sections, given on nine crowded plates, as compared 

 with that of former illustrations from Mr. O'Meara's hand, 



