23 4 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



24th March till 3rd April, in 1910; and 15th July till 1st August, in 1911. 

 Twelve days were spent in actual field-work on Clare Island ; six and a 

 half on Achill ; four hours on Caher Island; two days on Inishturk ; three and 

 a half days on Inishbofin; one day in The Mullet ; five in Erris ; six and a half 

 around Clew Bay and at Castlebar ; five in the Louisburgh district ; and four 

 in work upon the mountains of the mainland. In September, 1909, 1 had the 

 assistance of the late Dr. G. W. Chaster, Messrs. E. Collier, J. Napier Milne, and 

 E. J. Welch, and a great amount of work was accomplished during this visit. 

 Mr. Welch spent 10 days in the district in June,1910,principallyon Clare Island, 

 and has handed me his notes made during that trip. Throughoutthe period of the 

 Survey I have received considerable assistance from various workers, in the 

 way of information as to likely ground for shells, as well as specimens ; among 

 these I may mention F. Balfour Browne, G. P. Farran, Nevin H. Foster, 

 H. Wallis Kew, D. McArdle, and B. LI. Praeger. 



To those acquainted with the district, the above time-schedule will show 

 how much filling-in work remains to be done. That this work will add greatly 

 to the list of species found in any of the sub-districts, 1 doubt, as. most of my 

 work has been done in the choicest bits of each district, these having been 

 carefully selected from the Ordnance maps previous to each visit. 



The Mullet and Erris, however, may still yield surprises ; while a complete 

 survey of the lakes and rivers of the Clew Bay and Castlebar areas will prove 

 interesting. 



In the detailed reports to be found below, it may seem that I have given 

 useless and unnecessary notes. As, however, there is a probability that, at 

 some future time, this district will be re-surveyed, my aim has been to give 

 those who will be in charge of this second survey as much information as 

 possible, in order that any changes which may have taken place between now 

 and then may be the more easily observed. 



3. THE SUB-DIVISION OF THE DISTEICT. 



Each island naturally forms a district in itself, no matter how small it may 

 be in area. In dividing the mainland into districts, I have tried to show 

 contrasts, rather than similarities. These sub-divisions, it will be seen, are 

 five in number, namely — The Mullet ; Erris ; Louisburgh ; Clew Bay and 

 Castlebar; and the mountains of Curraun, Croaghpatrick, and Mweelrea above 

 500 feet altitude. 



The Mullet consists of the peninsula known by that name westward of the 

 canal at the town of Belmullet. Erris includes the strip of land between sea- 

 level and the 50o-fool contour-line south of Broadliaven and north of the Clew 



