4 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Loligo, and so is seldom seen. Last August [1883], when 
walking along the North Strand, I counted five successive hauls 
of Loligo, making a total of at least one hundred and fifty speci- 
mens, and in one of the larger hauls occurred a small Octopus, 
the only one I have seen; I was told by one of the fishermen 
that they are sometimes taken on the long lines during winter 
and spring.” 
[I have quoted this at length, as there is a certain 
amount of interest attached to the occurrence of the Octopus in 
Ireland. Forbes and Hanley say :—‘‘ Dr. Robert Ball procured 
it at Plymouth in 1841. The reputed Irish localities are very 
doubtful,” vol. iv. p. 210. Gwyn Jeffreys also states :—‘‘ Irish 
coasts, ‘not uncommon’ (Templeton, jide Thompson). But 
Eledone cirrosa may haye been in many cases mistaken for this 
species,” vol. v. p. 144. The exact statement in Thompson’s 
‘Natural History of Ireland,’ vol. iv. p. 270, is—‘‘ O. vulgaris, 
Lam. Not uncommon, Temp. MSS. (Probably the following 
species is meant.—R. Ball).” In the ‘Report of the British 
Association for 1840,’ p. 249, Thompson says ‘‘the omission of 
Eledone octopodia (E. cirrhosa] from his {Templeton’s] catalogue, 
leads me to believe that this latter was the species meant.” In 
the ‘ Guide to the City and County of Dublin,’ Hodges, Forster, 
and Figgis, 1878, pt. ii. Fauna, p. 70, Dr. A. Macalister (now 
of Cambridge) is answerable for Octopus vulgaris having been 
found at Bray. ‘There is, in the Dublin University Museum, a 
specimen of a true Octopus from ‘‘ Dublin Bay,” but with no 
history, and therefore of doubtful authenticity. Lastly, we have 
the record just quoted, but concerning which it is necessary to 
say afew words. Prof. Mackintosh informs me that he did not 
take away the specimen he saw lying on the shore, and con- 
sequently did not compare it with any description; but he is 
morally certain that his identification is correct. The fisherman’s 
statement merely refers to a short-bodied Octopod as opposed to 
a Squid, and this evidence is worthless, as, in common with 
other local naturalists, I can testify that Hledone cirrhosa, Lam., 
is commonly caught during the winter months on fishermen’s 
lines off the piers at Kingstown, and they have also been found 
stranded there on the beach by Mr. Dixon, who showed them to 
me. The direct evidence of the Irish habitat of Octopus vulgaris 
is thus narrowed to the statements of Professors Macalister and 
