1 10 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Miss Lister (Mycetozoa), went to Westport, where they were joined for two 

 days by E. LI. Praeger, and vigorous exploration of the adjoining woods was 

 carried out for a period of ten days. Miss Stephens was at the same time 

 at work at fresh-water Sponges in the Newport area. Later, joined 

 by E. LI. Praeger, dredging for Sponges, &e., was carried out in lakes in the 

 Louisburgh and Westport areas ; owing partly to stormy weather, and partly 

 to the nature of the lake-bottoms, which generally consisted either of 

 boulders or deep peat-mud, this work proved difficult and not productive of 

 much material. The last visit paid to the district during the year was on 

 November 11, when A. W. Stelfox and E. LI. Praeger worked at Manulla, 

 investigating the lake-marls, and making sections of them in order to throw 

 light on the past history of the Fresh-water Mollusca of the district. This 

 formed the conclusion of the three years' field-work. 



Although only six years have now elapsed since the commencement of the 

 Survey work, the death of six of our workers has to be recorded, four of them 

 being authors of reports in the series which follows. Two of these perished, 

 one in the Arctic and one in the Antarctic, while engaged on the biological 

 studies to which their lives had been devoted. Major Gerald E. H. Barrett- 

 Hamilton died in South Georgia in January, 1914, while carrying out an 

 investigation, on behalf of the Government, of the whale fisheries of the 

 southern ocean, and Mr. James Murray was lost, along with the majority of 

 the scientific staff of the ill-fated Canadian Arctic expedition, after their ship 

 the " Kaiiuk " was crushed by the ice near Wrangel Island. We have also 

 to deplore the loss of Dr. G. W. Chaster of Southport, who assisted with the 

 Mollusca, &c. ; Mr. E. J. Ussher of Cappagh, Co. Waterford. author of the 

 report on Birds ; Mr. William West of Bradford, who reported on the Fresh- 

 water Algae ;and Dr. George Fogerty of Limerick, who assisted Mr. Westropp 

 in the archaeological report. 



General Description of the Area. 



In the series of reports which follow the various authors have included 

 as much descriptive matter relating to the nature of the area as they deemed 

 necessary in connexion with the particular group or subject with which they 

 deal. In this Introduction a brief general description of the area will 

 suffice. 



Clare Island lies at about the middle of the great projecting buttress of 

 ancient rocks which forms west Galway and west Mayo, and which occupies 

 a position about half-way along the western coast of Ireland. This area is very 

 mountainous and varied, presenting a wide range of volcanic, rnetamorphic, 

 and sedimentary rocks (all of Palaeozoic age, save for small volcanic 



