470 Royal Irish Academy. 



Helix (Carocolla) semigranosa. Hel. te&td suborbiculari co- 

 nico-subdepressd, superne granulosa, subtus Icevi, nitidd ; spird 

 conico-subdepressd, anfractibus senis, rotundatis, ad marginem ca- 

 rinatis ; labio externo tenui, acuto,prope columellam crassiusculo ; 

 umbilico minimo. 

 Hub. ad Insulam Luban dictam, Philippinarum. 

 The margin of the last volution immediately in front of the keel is 

 slightly crenulated, and of a dark brown colour : the remainder of 

 the shell is of an uniform yellow-brown colour. 



ROYAL, IRISH ACADEMY. 



Feb. 22, 1841. — Mr. Charles T.Webber presented to the Academy 

 an ancient stone, on which is carved a rude bass-relief, supposed to be 

 the representation of a dog killing a wolf. Mr. Webber accompanied 

 the present with a communication to the effect that the stone was 

 taken from the Castle of Ardnaglass, in the barony of Tireragh and 

 county of Sligo, and was said to commemorate the destruction of the 

 last wolf in Ireland. The current tradition in the place from whence 

 it came was, that, some years after it was supposed that the race 

 of wolves was extinct, the flocks in the county of Leitrim were at- 

 tacked by a wild animal which turned out to be a wolf ; that there- 

 upon the chieftains of Leitrim applied to O'Dowd, the chieftain of 

 Tireragh (who possessed a celebrated dog of the breed of the ancient 

 Irish wolf-dog), to come and hunt the wolf ; which application being 

 comjjlied with by O'Dowd, there ensued a chase, which forms the sub- 

 ject of an ancient Irish legend, detailing the various districts through 

 which it was pursued, until at length the wolf was overtaken and 

 killed in a small wood of pine-trees, art the foot of one of the moun- 

 tains in Tireragh. The quarter of land on which the wolf was killed, 

 is to this day called Carroiv na Madhoo, which means the dogs' quar- 

 ter. In commemoration of the event, O'Dowd had the representation 

 of it carved on the stone, and placed in the wall of his baronial resi- 

 dence. A wood engraving of the bass-relief is given in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Academy, No. 28. 



March 16. — In connexion with the subject of Mr. Webber's re- 

 marks at the last meeting. Sir W. Betham communicated the follow- 

 ing document, giving an account of an order made by King James I. 

 for the destruction of wolves in Ireland. 



Patent Roll, 12 Jac. I. d. R. 17. " The King being given to un- 

 derstand the great loss and hindrance which arose in Ireland by the 

 multitude of wolves, in all parts of the kingdom, did by letters from 

 Newmarket, 26th November 1614, direct a grant to be made by 

 patent to Henrie Tuttesham, who by petition had made offer to 

 i-epair into Ireland, and there use his best skill and endeavour to de- 

 stroy the said wolves, providing at his own charge men, dogs, traps, 

 and engines, and requiring no other allowance, save only four nobles 

 sterling, for the head of every wolf, young or old, out of every county, 

 and to be authorized to keep four men and twelve couple of hounds 

 in every county, for seven years next after the date of these letters." 

 12 Jac. s. L. R. 27. 



