Vertebrate Fauna of Ulster. 43 



works will form most valuable contributions when this highly 

 desirable undertaking is entered upon: — "The Guide to Belfast 

 and the Adjacent Counties," by the Belfast Naturalists' Field 

 Club (1877) ; "Guide to the County of Dublin," by various 

 contributors (1878) ; "The Birds, Fishes, and Cetacea of Belfast 

 Lough," by R. Lloyd Patterson (1880); "The Fowler in 

 Ireland," by Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey (1882) ; and the "List 

 of Irish Birds," by A. G. More (1884). The information 

 respecting the Fauna of Ireland which the foregoing works 

 yield was then compared with that which is to be found in the 

 multitude of recent reliable works dealing with the vertebrate 

 animals of England and Scotland, and upwards of a dozen books 

 were mentioned giving full information respecting the birds, 

 &c, of as many districts of Great Britain. The reader next 

 quoted from some of the leading writers on modern British 

 zoology, showing how they have drawn attention to the scanty 

 information relative to Ireland, and have urged the necessity 

 of further work in this department. One quotation, taken from 

 " Essays on Sport and Natural History," by J. E. Harting, 

 F.L.S., F.Z.S., the editor of the Zoologist, is particularly 

 emphatic. He says, in conclusion — " We stand sadly in need 

 of a good modern comprehensive work on the Fauna of Ireland, 

 and one cannot doubt that the appearance of such a work would 

 be hailed with satisfaction by the large and ever increasing 

 body of British zoologists." It was then explained how it is 

 proposed to supply this deficiency, as far at least as the province 

 of Ulster is concerned. The Council of the Natural History 

 and Philosophical Society, in response to a letter signed by 

 Mr. Robert Patterson and the reader, calling attention to the 

 great desirability of a modern work on local zoology, have 

 appointed a special " Ulster Fauna " Committee, consisting of 

 the President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Society, together 

 with Professor R. O. Cunningham and Messrs. R. Lloyd 

 Patterson and Joseph Wright, with Messrs. Robert Patterson 

 and R. Lloyd Praeger as Secretaries ; the object of this Com- 

 mittee being the collection of authentic information respecting 



