t320 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



washed up on them ; at least foiu' of these are now in Inishhofin, and 

 large quantities of drift of various kinds are thrown up on the shores 

 fi'om time to time. 



The botany and zoology of the islands is outside of the scope of the 

 present Paper, but a few words of general description may help to 

 make the picture of the place more complete. 



Here, as elsewhere, on our western coast, there is a tradition that 

 the islands were at one time well wooded ; and this is corroborated by 

 the occasional discovery of tree-trunks in the bogs. At the present 

 day, though under the influence of the warm, moist climate, other 

 vegetation flourishes, trees of any sort cannot be got to grow, and all 

 attempts to rear them have hitherto been failures, as the strong winds 

 quickly destroyed them. Even in the most sheltered spots bushes 

 will hardly grow, and there are not a dozen of five feet in height to 

 be found in the islands. 



Large numbers of sea-birds nest on the rocky islets round the 

 coasts; pigeons in large numbers inhabit the caves of Inishshark, and, 

 until within a few years ago, eagles used regularly to nest on a high 

 pinnacle of rock, known as the Boughal, in the channel between the 

 islands. Rabbits and rats are both very plentiful ; but hares, bats, 

 weasels, and frogs are not found on either island. 



Around the coast, porpoises, sea-otters, and seals (which latter 

 are looked upon as forerunners of stormy weather when they appear) 

 are often seen, and the " sun-fish " [Selache maxima, the great basking 

 shark) appears usually about the end of March ; it leaves nearly 

 always before the end of June, and was until a few years ago regularly 

 fished for. 



III. — Anthlropogeaphy. 



1 . Methods. — These do not require any very extended notice, being 

 practically the same as those employed last year, and described in the 

 report on the Aran investigation. A few changes were made, con- 

 sisting mainly in the substitution of measurements and instruments 

 shown by experience to be needed, for some which had proved unne- 

 cessary, and the use of the new observation form provisionally adopted 

 by the Irish Sub-Committee for the Ethnographic Survey of the 

 British Association. This form, though not perfect, proved to be of 

 much value for field work as, owing to its arrangement, observations 

 can be made with much greater rapidity than is possible by the old 

 system; and the chance of omitting any important point is almost 

 entirely avoided. The economy of time alone is a point of much im- 



