366( Miscellaneous. 



The discovery, however, has now been made by my esteemed cor- 

 respondent, Mr. Jacob StaufFer, of Mount Joy, Lancaster County, 

 Pennsylvania. He has recently sent me fresh specimens of Coman- 

 dra imibellata, with its elongated and woody subterranean stems, 

 giving oj(F numerous roots, the branches of which are often expanded 

 at their tips into a small tubercle or sucker, which is implanted by 

 its disc-like surface upon the bark of adjacent roots, principally of 

 shrubs. The foster-plants, in the specimens communicated, are 

 Blueberries and Huckleberries (^Faccinmm vacillans and Gaylussacia 

 resinosa). Mr. Stauffer's specimens are accompanied by a neat 

 drawing, illustrating the mode of attachment. This I would gladly 

 forward for the engraver : but it will suffice, perhaps, for the present 

 to say, that the attachment is similar to that so clearly exhibited by 

 Mr. Mitten, in the plate which accompanies his article ; only that 

 the rootlets in Comandra arise from subterranean stems, and the 

 suckers, so far as I have examined, do not appear to penetrate the 

 foster-root deeper than the surface of its wood. 



Since the above was written and in type, I have received from Mr. 

 StaufFer the announcement of his discovery of the parasitism of Ge- 

 rardia flava, accompanied by a drawing which exhibits it, and a spe- 

 cimen which plainly shows the attachment. The numerous branches 

 of the root are not only attached by discs or suckers to the bark of 

 the root of the foster-plant (in this case either white oak or witch 

 hazel), but also are implanted upon each other, forming parasitical 

 anastomoses. — Silliman's Journal, Sept. 1853. 



RARE IRISH MOLLUSCA. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Windsor Lodge, Monkstovvn, co. Dublin, 

 September 30, 1853. 

 Gentlemen, — Having had a few days' dredging last month off 

 this coast, will you kindly record for me, at your earliest convenience, 

 the obtaining of the following Mollusca ? Those species marked with 

 an asterisk I believe to be new to the fauna of this county. 

 *Corhula rosea. Off Dublin Bay. 



Lyonsia Norvegica. Killiney Bay and Dalkey Sound. 

 *Thracia distorta. Dalkey Sound. 

 Cochlodesma prcetenue. Killiney Bay and Dalkey Sound. 

 Solecurtis coarctatus. Same localities as the last species. 

 *Astarte elliptica. Dalkey Sound. 



sulcata, var. Scotica. Same locality as the last species. 



*Lepton squamosum. Dalkey Sound and Killiney Bay. 

 *Nucula radiata. Dalkey Sound. 



* tenuis. Same locality. 



Leda caudata. Killiney Bay and Dalkey Sound. 

 Trophon Barvicensis. Dalkey Sound. 

 Mangelia aeptangularis. Same locality. 

 Phyline scahra. Same locality. 



I am. Gentlemen, yours obediently, 



William White Walpole. 



