382 



Dublin Natural History Society. 



birds. In the selection of these, the greatest attention has been paid 

 to the perfection of the plumage ; and by far the greater part of them 

 have been preserved by the skilful hand of Mr. Heckford, the So- 

 ciety's Conservator. 



DUBLIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



At the usual monthly meeting held on Friday the 4th of December, 

 Mr. Allman called attention to a curious parasitic Entozoon discovered 

 by him in the abdominal muscles of the Hake. Mr. H. Dombrain 

 gave a notice of ornithological rarities which had lately occurred, 

 among which four specimens of Ibis falcinellus had been shot during 

 the last autumn. Mr. Andrews read an account of a botanical ex- 

 cursion through a portion of Clare and Kerry, and as this contained 

 several new localities for some rare Irish plants, we add an abstract 

 which has been forwarded to us by the author. 



" Having been requested by my friend, Mr. Dombrain, to give a 

 sketch of a hurried excursion which I made, in company with my 

 friend Mr. Moore, through a portion of Clare and Kerry this autumn, 

 I have to beg the indulgence of the meeting for any omissions I may 

 make. I can only give a brief outline of our range, and state other 

 interesting localities for plants that have been considered rare or not 

 frequent in this country. Our steps were first directed to Clare, 

 proceeding from Kilrush to Dunbeg, a small village on the coast ; 

 and we had to regret that the very unfavourable state of the weather 

 prevented our making such collection of Algse as the shores of that 

 bay so promisingly offered. The Fucus tuberculatus, rare in the 

 north, was there abundant, and Cystoseira ericoides, and Chondrus 

 norvegicus frequent. In the great bog of Mon Mor, which extends 

 ©ver a considerable tract of country, we noticed, in the range between 

 Killard and Moyasta, most of the rare bog plants of Connemara : 

 the Eriocaulon septangulare in great abundance ; Carex filiformis 

 and limosa, Rhyncospora fusca, and alba, Alisma natans, Utricularia 

 minor and Scutellaria minor, Drosera rotundifolia, longifolia and an- 

 glica, Pinguicula lusitanica, this plant appearing more general there, 

 and also in Kerry, than the vulgaris. Near Tullaher Lake, the Cen- 

 tunculus minimus was found, and in the lake in abundance Elatine 

 hexandra, Eriocaulon septangulare, and Lobelia Dortmanna. Mr. 

 Murphy informs me that he has seen the Eriocaulon in Donegal, 

 and I have heard of its having been noticed in Kerry ; thus esta- 

 blishing an interesting connecting link along the western coast of a 

 plant that has hitherto been considered limited to Connemara. The 

 same remark is applicable to the Asperula cynanchica, this beautiful 

 little plant displaying its white rose-tinged flowers, set off by its 

 thickly-set dark shining leaves, in great abundance on the sand-hills 

 of Dough-mor. It occurs frequently in the limestone district of 

 Burrin, and on the sand plains of Ferriter's Cove and Smerwick 

 Harbour in Kerry, and I have no doubt its range may yet be ob- 

 served more northerly than Clare. The Viola lutea seemed to be 

 confined to a portion of the sand-hills bounding the northern side of 

 Screveleen river. In our rambles further west, along that narrow 



