68 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



resorted to it in the summer months to graze their 

 cattle. They brought with them their wives and 

 children and a few articles of household utensils 

 and furniture, erected huts of sods, cut their peat 

 fuel for the coming year, and spent two months in 

 the Deer's Meadow, retiring at harvest to their 

 lowland habitation. This place is now utilized for 

 making turf or peat, in which process a large 

 portion of it has been ' cut out,' the bare rock being 

 reached. The one road that traverses the Mournes 

 runs through the Deer's Meadow from north to 

 south. The additional mosses that have been 

 collected here are : Sphagnum intermedium and its 

 var. pulchnim, S. subsecuniiim , var. auriculatum ; 

 Campylopus Jiexuosus, var. paludosus, C. setifolius ; 

 Tortula miiralis ; Barbula rubella ; Splachnum 

 ampullaceum ; Breutelia chrysocoma ; Bryiim caspiticium ; 

 Fontinalis antipyretica ; Hypnum exanmdatum . 



The Cove Mountain where there is a small 

 lakelet and a sort of cave, the Happy or Silent 

 Valley which is shortly to be converted into an 

 immense reservoir for the water supply of the 

 City of Belfast thirty-six miles distant, Lough 

 Shannagh, the Chimney-rock Mountain, Slieve 

 Bernagh, Slieve Bignian, and Bencrom, with 

 others lying near the centre of the district, can be 

 reached from Newcastle, Hilltown or Kilkeel. 

 They will reward a search with Polytrichum gracile, 

 P. attenuatus: Sphagnum subsecimdiim, var. obesum ; 

 Splachnum pedunculatum ; Barbula curvirostris ; Fnil- 

 lania fragifolia ; Aplozia riparia, A. hyalina. 



In walking from Hilltown to Rosstrevor, my plan 

 has been to take to the mountains, about two miles 

 from the former village, and work the ground from 

 the Rocky Mountain to Shanlieve, both of which 

 are good, and then to rejoin the road at a distance 

 of three miles from Rosstrevor, or keep southwards 

 till one reads the summit of Slieve Dermot, below 

 which lies the village of Rosstrevor. There are 

 several excellent hotels in Rosstrevor, which is 

 connected by a tram with the railway at Warren- 

 point. 



If it were for nothing else but the scenery of 

 Carlingford Lough, the botanist should visit 

 Rosstrevor, which nestles in a sunny, well-sheltered 

 corner on the very shore of the Lough. Here is to be 

 seen a phenomenon not at all common in Ireland, viz. , 

 fine oak and ash trees growing at the verge of the 

 sea, and actually in one spot overhanging the salt- 

 water at full tide. 



The mountains that rise above Rosstrevor, and 

 screen it completely from the north and east, are all 

 worth searching, while Knockbarragh, Moygannon 

 Glen, Narrow "Water Demesne (which is the only 

 place where I was not permitted to carry a botanical 

 vasculum) and Warrenpoint, are all close at hand, 

 and possess their peculiar plants. In addition there 

 is the great Carlingford Mountain in co. Louth, 

 with its rugged outline and legends of giants and 



fair ladies, and the co. Armagh Mountains, which 

 I have found very good for a few days' botanizing. 

 The following from these places are not included 

 in any of the above lists : Torhda aloides, T. montana; 

 Barbula fallax ; Orthotrichum saxatile ; Physcomitrium 

 pyriforme ; Fontinalis squammosa ; Cryphea arborea ; 

 Dichodontium pelhicidum, var. fagimontanum ; Hypnum 

 fluitans, H. patientice, H. scorpioides ; Amblystegium 

 serpens; Brachytheciuvi salebrosum ; Hylocomium 

 brevirostre ; Pleuridium subulata, P. alternifolium ; 

 Lepidozia reptans; Jungermania porphyroleuca, J.ven- 

 tricosa ; Leptoscyphus interrttptus, var. pyreniacum ; 

 Radula complanata. 



Though I do not presume to think I have "worked 

 out the botany of the Mourne MounLains," to quote 

 the words of a writer in Science-Gossip, I think I 

 have made good the proposition with which I 

 started, that there is a wealth of mosses and 

 hepatics in the Mournes. 



I have to thank Messrs. A. and C. Black for 

 permission to reproduce part of the map of Mourne 

 Mountains, taken with their permission from their 

 " Guide to Belfast, etc." 



Aghaderg Glebe, L ou glib rickl and, co. Down ; 

 April, 1896. 



AQUATIC HYMENOPTERA. 



Discovery of Male Prestwichia aquatica. 

 By Fred Enock, F.L.S., F.E.S. 

 TT is with no small amount of pleasure that I 

 am now able to report the discovery of the 

 hitherto unknown male Prestwichia aquatica, 

 Lubbock, which I captured last week. The many 

 days spent year after year in searching for this 

 strange aquatic parasite were all forgotten in 

 the excitement, as well as were the gnawings of 

 hunger and the longing for " the cup that cheers 

 but not inebriates." My companions in distress 

 were Messrs. Scourfield and Dennis, and they had 

 been holding a quiet discourse on the advisability 

 of looking out for a place where this refreshing cup 

 might be obtained, when I took another dip, going 

 through the oft-repeated operation of searching 

 over the contents of my net, until my eye rested on 

 a minute insect, which I most carefully bottled, 

 and then, when corked, I informed my companions 

 that "I had got it." The effect of these words 

 was most marked, for my companions forgot their 

 thirst and hunger in their desire to help me to dip 

 and examine each bottle of water. Soon a tiny 

 insect was seen on the surface— a mere mite, with 

 wonderful power to elude the mouth of the phial, 

 and when at last it did go in, we hardly knew where 

 it had gone to, but found it holding^ on fast to the 

 inside, scarcely visible in the declining light. It 

 was safely secured ; then another suspicious-look- 

 ing one soon after followed. We now agreed to 



