368 Alexander Goodman More. [i890 



I am sure you will not find much trouble in writing your account of the 

 Whale. Just " Sibbald's Rorqual on the Irish Coast" (or "coast of 

 Wexford," if you like it better), will do for the title ; and then the date 

 of occurrence, the description of size and colour as given by your corre- 

 spondents, and the fact of the baleen being altogether black, will be 

 sufficient for the identification. Anything more you can hear of the 

 value of the Whalebone and of the oil, and the destination of the skele- 

 ton. Of course I shall be pleased if you like to quote me as identifying it 

 from the size and from the colour of baleen ; and I think you should 

 write your paper at once, for fear of being anticipated. If you like to 

 send it to me to read over, I can send it onto Harting. When you have 

 done this, I wish you could go and stay a few days on the Saltees, and 

 study the Birds, taking a good glass with you. I hear of a Golden 

 Oriole or two, and Williams brought me an " American Robin,' 5 Turdus 

 ntigratorius* which does not look like an escaped bird. 



September idth, 1891. 



DEAR DR. SCHARFF, I am glad to hear that you are going to visit 

 Aran. No one, so far as I know, has collected any of the land-shells. 

 There is a small cockle with a very thin shell, found in a brackish pool : 

 that is the only rarity I remember. The rarest plants are 



Astragalus hypoglottis. 



Ajuga pyramidalis. 



Helianthemum canum. 



Allium Babingtonii (a tall leek, formerly cultivated). 



Matthiola'sinuata (not found for many years). 



Cornus sanguinea. Galium sylvestre. 



Arundo Epigejos. Gentiana verna. 



Viola hirta. Alsine verna. 



Arabis ciliata. Cerastium arvense (glabrous var.) 



Carduus nutans. Adiantum Capillus-Veneris. 



There is no Irish species peculiar to Aran, except the Astragalus 

 hypoglottis, and nearly all the rare plants occur also on the opposite 

 shore of Clare. I am afraid the season is now too late for you to find 

 many plants in flower, especially as Aran is very early from the warm 

 limestone surface. If you have time to bottle a few Beetles, or, better 

 still, to leave a bottle of spirit with the clergyman to receive such 

 coleoptera as he might be able to collect, I think that some good 

 varieties might turn up. I have not yet seen your Slug paper, but if 

 you can spare me a separate copy I should very much like to have it, as 

 being so much more easy to consult ; and I hope you will remember 

 Miss A. Warren, of Moyview, who is, I think, about the only working 

 conchologist in Ireland except yourself. The Aran shores have been 



* The first occurrence of this species in Europe. 



