214 Alexander Goodman More. [i869 



than were those "humorous letters " of Mr. Henry Evans, 

 naturalist and sportsman, which had formed one of the 

 topics of his conversation with Bell, on the " lucky 

 Friday" of their first meeting in 1855. Many of these 

 letters are dated from Roundstone, and contain lively 

 descriptions of the writer's experiences in pursuit of the 

 "big game" of that part of the Irish coast, the Halichaerus 

 grypus, or Great Grey Seal. Roundstone and seal-hunting 

 had ever since, in Mr. More's mind, been inseparably 

 associated, and he now eagerly looked forward to the 

 chance of shooting one of these fine animals for the 

 museum. 



He was not destined, however, to fall in with any seals 

 until some time after his arrival at Roundstone. Cruising 

 in Roundstone and Bertraghbuy Bays and to some of the 

 neighbouring islands, he accumulated great stores of 

 sponges and algae, shells, ascidians, urchins, starfish, 

 Crustacea, &c., and noted down for use on future occasions 

 all that he could glean from a veteran u sun-fish hunter " 

 about the pursuit of that huge monster, the Basking Shark, 

 among the westernmost islands. His best success was 

 with the Ascidians, a group in which he had long taken an 

 interest, and of which more than twenty species were now 

 collected. In shore-pools on the interesting little isle of 

 Saint Macdara he was pleased to again fall in with his old 

 friend Montagu's blenny, the fish which he had found a 

 year ago at Dingle. Here too were " Shannies of a 

 beautiful mottled green and white, like the granite on 

 which they live"; and a rare shrimp, Athanas nitescens, 

 of which only one Irish specimen is known to have been 

 previously collected.* 



The flora of Saint Macdara included the Primrose, 

 which he found still in flower on the 27th of July. Some 

 botany was also done on the mainland when the weather 

 was either too rough or too calm for the hooker. With 

 characteristic avidity to discover which was Professor 



* Thompson records one specimen found in Clare in 1840. This record had 

 escaped Mr. More's notice when he wrote (" Zool." (3), xiii., p. 236) : " I do not 

 think that this pretty little crustacean, so like a miniature lobster, has yet been 

 recorded as Irish." 



