4 5 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



The Chairman in introducing the lecturer said he wished to 

 express the pleasure it had given the University to grant 

 accommodation to the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club to enable it 

 to celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Club. Since it was a 

 most important and useful organisation, of which he himself was 

 an old member, he hoped that these celebrations would give it a 

 fresh impetus in its work. He then called on Dr. Scharff to read 

 his paper. 



Dr. Scharff said : — A naturalist visiting Ireland for the first 

 time would, I think, be chiefly struck by the poverty of the fauna. 

 But this poverty in a zoological sense merely refers to the number 

 of species found in Ireland. The relative number of specimens, 

 on the other hand, is far greater in this country than on the 

 continent. We thus possess a wealth in numbers and a paucity 

 in kind. This character, however, Ireland has in common with 

 many island faunas. A less evident peculiarity, and yet a very 

 important one, is the occurrence of many southern types of animals 

 in the south and west, and of some northern groups in the north 

 and west of Ireland. Moreover a few of the southern Irish types 

 are absent from Great Britain. It is this last feature especially 

 that has given rise to comment and speculation. It makes the 

 Irish fauna distinctly interesting, and proves that the latter is not 

 merely an impoverished British fauna. We possess some distinctive 

 characters apart from Great Britain, and to trace the origin of these 

 features is a most fascinating study which has engaged my attention 

 for some years past. It is possibly owing to this fact that I 

 have the pleasure of being permitted to address you this evening. 

 The origin and relationship of the Irish fauna is a large subject, 

 and I have been particularly requested to make my lecture as 

 short as possible. I cannot, therefore, discuss the whole aspect of 

 this problem very fully. I thought, in fact, it would be best on 

 this occasion to take up only one branch of the subject, and to give 

 you a brief review with a few illustrations of the salient features 

 connected with the origin of the Irish fauna. Before discussing 



