190 NATURAL HISTOEY SOCIETY OP DUBLIN. 



position the Society has now attained. Many eminent men have been 

 connected with the Society. His Grace the late Archbishop of Dublin 

 was its firm supporter, and for many years its President; that distin- 

 guished botanist and amiable man, Dr. William Henry Harvey, Pro- 

 fessor of Botany in the University, and Director of the University Bo- 

 tanical Museum, was also a President ; and for several of its members 

 the Society first formed the groundwork of future advancement — Old- 

 ham, M'Coy, and Allman, the first two now holding distinguished posts 

 in India, the latter the first chair of Natural History in the British Isles. 

 We must not forget the talents and the zeal of our departed friend, Dr. 

 John Eobert Kinahan, whose loss will be ever deeply felt by us. 



The Society was established for the elucidation of the natural his- 

 tory of Ireland, but recent rules now give its objects a wider scope, 

 though still working out its first intentions. Ireland is considered to 

 be but a limited sphere for the naturalist; yet how often do we meet 

 with facts of interest still undeveloped in its zoology and botany ; and 

 even its geology, although a kindred Society is so ably worked, still 

 presents some views of vast importance. We are aware of the extent 

 of interesting matter already recorded with regard to its minerals, and of 

 the exceedingly important investigations brought forward by Professor 

 Haughton on the origin of granite, and the relative points with regard 

 to the rocks of Scotland, the north of Europe, and America. Our know- 

 ledge of the unexplained puzzles that the Old Bed Sandstone of the 

 Dingle beds presents is still most unsatisfactory, and which Professor 

 Phillips pronounced to be very, very Old Bed Sandstone. The remains 

 of those ancient oyster beds that occur on the road to Cluney, beside 

 the Kenmare Biver, have never been satisfactorily accounted for ; nor 

 have those of Dingle Harbour, or of the varieties of Ostrea edulis found 

 in the post-tertiary deposits of Belfast. On these I hope to make future 

 observations ; also on some characters of recent oyster deposits, among 

 which I have traced the true Ostrea borealis and Ostrea virginica, 

 identical with those of Massachusets Bay. Such examinations, care- 

 fully followed out, may throw some light upon whether fossils or depo- 

 sits, which are supposed to be peculiar in certain rocks, or in certain 

 strata, can be found as marking any definite age. The zoology and 

 botany of this country still possess many attractions and new features 

 to work out, for scarcely a visit to any of its more unfrequented dis 

 tricts that some new forms are not presented. An eminent botanist 

 a member of this Society, has lately added a plant to the British Flora 

 In the marine zoology especially a wide field of interest is still yielded 

 not only with regard to new introductions to our Pauna, but of more im 

 portance, as leading to more enlarged views, and more extensive deve- 

 lopments of our industrial resources. It has often been a matter of sur- 

 prise to the fishermen, the zeal with which I pursued my investigations, 

 exploring bays, estuaries, inlets, and shoals, in the tracing of the sea- 

 sons, habits, and peculiar ranges of our more valuable fish, as weU as 

 the examination of all matters of interest with regard to deposits of 



