4 20 ' Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



p&pc&n •f-^oiteAnn, which precisely represents the sound of the name as 

 spoken. The meaning, Seagull Crab, is, however, singularly inappropriate, 

 and I am convinced that the spelling here adopted is the correct one, the 

 rendering being Mweelans Crab. The Mweelans are prominent naked 

 rocks or sea-stacks, lying some two miles south of Clare Island, and a 

 likely haunt for this deep-water crab, 

 p&pc&n gl&p, Green Crab. Carcinas maenas Pennant, Common Shore or 



Green Crab. — Clare Island, Cloghmore, and Binvyle. 

 p&pcAri i&p&mn, Iron Crab. Xantho fiorida Leach. — Clare Island ; an 

 appropriate name for this very hard-shelled crab, which is common 

 under stones at low water throughout the Clew Bay area. 

 P&pc&n pile. Portunus clepurator Leach, Swimmer Crab. — General 

 amongst the Clare Island fishermen and probably applied to the Swimmer 

 Crabs generally. The second component of the name sounds precisely as 

 Sile (Sheila), a woman's name, and may possibly have originated in the 

 island from some trivial circumstance, as popular names not infrequently 

 do. 

 1libe funiAii. Pcdaemon serratus Fabr. or P. squilla Fabr., The Prawn. — 

 Clare Island. " It's the Shrimp that lives in flashes by the sea," a Clare 

 islander told me, " flash " here meaning pool, and " shrimp " being applied, 

 as it is generally in Ireland, to what is usually called prawn in England, 

 prawn in Ireland being applied to the Norway Lobster (Nephrons 

 norvegicm Leach). The name may perhaps be rendered Seal's Whisker, in 

 allusion to the long, slender antennae of the shrimp. 

 Uuc. Raia batis Linne, The Skate. — General in Clare Island. 

 Ilunn&c. Scomber scomber Linne. The Mackerel. — General in Clare Island. 

 1lon. Hcdichaerus grypus Fab., The Grey Seal. — Clare Island, Achill Sound, 

 &c, and general in West Ireland. 



A favourite alliterative saw amongst the Clare Island fishermen is the 

 following, whicb includes tbe three species just mentioned. I could find 

 no Gaelic version of it. " The three swiftest things that swim in the sea 

 are the Kuc, the Eone, and the Bunnock." The Skate when it comes to the 

 surface, as it does at times, is said by the fishermen to " travel along 

 the top of the water like a shot from a gun," and the mackerel " is that 

 swift that it catches hold of a bait from a hooker doing its 8 miles an 

 hour." 

 Snui56.i|itroe pom. Seal's Spit. — Aurelia aurita Linne. Jelly-fish. — A 

 very widespread name in Clare Island and round Clew Bay for this jelly- 

 fish, which at times appears there in vast numbers. The name is no 

 doubt generic for several common species of jelly-fish. 



