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IV. 



THE WOODLICE OF lEELAND : THEIE DISTKIBUTION AND 



CLASSIFICATION. 



By DENIS E. PACK BEEESFOED, B.A., M.E.I.A., 



AND 



NEVIN H. FOSTEE, M.B.O.U. 

 Plate VIII. 



(being the tenth report from the fauna and flora committee.) 



Read Januaky 23, 19U. Published March 16, 1911. 



After several years study of the detailed distribution of WoodUee (Crustacea 

 Isopoda Terrestria) in Ireland, and having now authenticated the existence 

 of the four common species — Oniscus asellus, Porcellio scaler, PMloscia 

 viuscorum, and Trichoniscus piosillus — in each of the 40 county di^dsions into 

 which the country has been divided, and also of Ligia oceanica — the sea- 

 shore species — all round our coasts, we think it a suitable opportunity to offer 

 this paper, giving the present state of our knowledge of the group ; while we 

 have embodied in it all the records at present known, so far as we have been 

 able to trace them in various journals, as well as by the result of our own 

 investigations. 



We offer also a series of tables to help those who may continue the study 

 to identify such specimens as may come before them, as well as figures of 

 two species which have not as yet occurred in any other part of the British 

 Isles ; and we have, in fact, endeavoured to bring our knowledge of the distri- 

 bution of this group in Ireland as fully up to date as possible, so as to form a 

 basis for further work in it. We need hardly say that the foundation on 

 which we ourselves started was Dr. Scharff's paper on " The Irish Woodlice," 

 published in The Irish Naturalist, vol. iii., in 1894. 



We have to offer our best thanks to Dr. Scharff both for the advice 

 and assistance he has given us in the course of our investigations, and for 

 allowing us to examine and record the Woodlice preserved in the National 

 Museum in Dublin. 



Numerous friends and correspondents residing in various parts of Ireland 

 have also rendered us great se/rvice in sending us from time to time specimens 



B.I.A. PROC, VOL. XXIX,, SECT. B. \_Z] 



