148 Guide to Belfast. 



E. Blythii Wille. — Slieve Commedagh. 



C. Brebissonii Menegh. — Slieve Donard. 



C. latum Bi-eb. — Slieve Commedagh. 



References. — Harvey, in Flora Hiherriica ; O'Meara, Irish Diato- 

 macece [Froc. R. I. Acad., 1875); W. West and Prof. G. S. West, 

 Freshwater Algas of North of Ireland {Trans. R. I. Acad., 1902). 



C. H. W. 



ZOOLOGY. 



By Robert Patterson, G. H. Carpenter, J. N. Halbert, Rev. 

 W. F. Johnson, A. R. Nichols, H. Lamont Orr, R. Lloyd 

 Praeger, R. F. Sharff, R. Welch, and Joseph Wright. 



VERTEBRATA. 

 MAMMALIA. 



THE first point that would strike an English naturalist 

 is the extreme poverty of the list of Irish Mammals. 

 Of the 71 Mammals on the British list, the whole of 

 Ireland can only claim about 43, including the probably intro- 

 duced Squirrel and the Fallow Deer. We have only half of 

 the bats, one shrew, and two mice ; while the Mole, Polecat, 

 Weasel, Dormouse, Common Hare, and all the voles are 

 entirely absent. "The absence of so many British Mammals 

 shows, without doubt, that the land-connections between 

 Ireland and Great Britain must have broken down before 

 the latter country became separated from the Continent. 

 Ireland is, therefore, the older of the two islands." ^ 

 Indeed it is this poverty of the Irish list that makes the 

 study of Irish Mammals doubly interesting and instructive, 

 and the solution of various questions of geographical distri- 

 bution has been aided to no small extent by the intelligent 

 investigation of the peculiarities of the Irish fauna. 



Owing to the wild and broken nature of large portions 

 of the island, and the somewhat indifferent game-preserving 

 that generally prevails, several of the more interesting 

 animals, usually termed " vermin " in Great Britain, are 



1 G. H. Carpenter. — " Ireland" : Handbook for Irish Pav. , Glasgow 

 Internal. Exhibition, 1901. 



