266 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



in the counties of Galway and Mayo, where a 

 remarkably fine collection of sponges was obtained 

 during a scientific expedition which Mr. D. Robertson 

 of Glasgow and himself made to that part of Ireland 

 in the summer of 1874." 



In the summer of 1876, Robertson visited the north 

 of Ireland, and upon this occasion remarks in his 

 note-book : 



" This side of the country appears in a better state 

 of refinement than the south and south-west, in so far 

 as the children of the poor are better clad and not 

 seen in such a state of rags and semi-nudity as in the 

 south." After observing that the grown-up people, 

 however, in the south, both male and female, may be 

 said to be well shod and suitably clothed, and the 

 women with a good eye to artistic effect in their red 

 tartan shawls and striped petticoats, he continues : 



" On the other hand, the cotter houses in the north 

 are mostly whitewashed, however humble, and on the 

 outside they generally have neat rows of flowers along 

 the walls and in many cases flowers in pots on the 

 insides of the windows, and little clean white curtains 

 a foot or so from the glass. In no case are slops or 

 ashes thrown out in front of the house, nor in any 

 case did we see pigs entering the domicile or about 

 it. I believe many keep pigs, from the traffic we saw 

 in them in Buncrana market, but I believe where they 

 are kept they are confined in proper places. This state 

 of things contrasts strongly with the condition of the 

 peasantry in the south-west, where a whitewashed 

 peasant's-house is seldom to be seen, or one without 

 a dunghill before the door, where it often forms an 



