4 2 



*jth January, 1890. 



John H. Greenhill, Esq., in the Chair. 



Robert Patterson, Esq., and R. Lloyd Praeger, Esq., B.E., 

 Secretaries of the Ulster Fauna Committee, contributed a 

 joint Paper on the 



VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF ULSTER, 

 Which was read by the latter-named Gentleman. 



The Lecturer said : — By its geographical position Ireland is a 

 country of much interest to the zoologist, since it is the 

 extreme western extremity of the Continent of Europe, and 

 often the first land at which American animals which have 

 succeeded in crossing the Atlantic arrive ; and it is, therefore, 

 important to British zoologists that its Fauna should be 

 thoroughly understood. This being the case, it is surprising 

 how little attention the subject has received from naturalists ; 

 and it may be of interest briefly to review the zoological work 

 which has been done in Ireland, comparing the information we 

 possess regarding its Vertebrate Fauna with that which is now 

 obtainable relative to the Faunas of England and Scotland. 



The books in which Irish zoology obtains any mention were 

 then shortly dealt with, beginning with the oldest writers on 

 the subject, and coming down through Giraldus Cambrensis, 

 Walter Harris, Smith, Dubourdieu, M'Skimin, and Harvey, 

 to William Thompson, whose book is still the standard work 

 on Irish zoology. It was pointed out that in the space of more 

 than thirty years which has elapsed since the publication of 

 the last volume of Thompson's "Natural History of Ireland," 

 no work has appeared containing anything like a complete 

 account of the vertebrate zoology, either of the whole island or 

 of any of the provinces, though the following local or partial 



