402 



Mr. M'Coy on some rare Fish 



truly wild and at large. I recollect to have once found a very 

 small weak plant of it upon the celebrated " Bowder Stone " 

 in Borrowdale, which at the time I thought a treasure ; but 

 I was soon afterwards informed, that some person in the 

 neighbourhood had been ornamenting this interesting rock 

 by planting garden-flowers upon it, of which, no doubt, this 

 crumb of " London Pride " was a remnant. Mr. Russell, I see 

 in your Number for Dec. (p. 314), states that he had received 

 the plant some years ago from Clovelly, and that he has this 

 year "verified the locality himself," and u is much inclined 

 to admit the station as a true one." Of the correctness of this 

 statement I do not mean to venture an opinion, not having 

 visited the place myself. But with this exception, if it prove 

 to be one, I am much disposed to coincide with Mr. Baines's 

 reviewer (p. 216), that the plant in question " is hardly found 

 in England, except in Yorkshire." I have visited the wild 

 sequestered station, " Hessleton Gill," in that county, and 

 have there found S. umbrosa growing luxuriantly and appa- 

 rently wild, though occupying a space of no very great extent, 

 and am not surprised at any botanist asserting that here, at 

 any rate, the plant is truly native. I could, however, assign 

 reasons, which yet it would be tedious to detail at length, for 

 suspecting, if not for believing, that even here, in this retired 

 spot, the plant is not truly indigenous, but introduced by the 

 hand of man ; and, in short, that S. umbrosa, the " London 

 Pride" of our gardens, is not of native but exotic origin, though 

 it has been, in a manner, naturalized in various parts of our 

 island. 



I am, Sir, yours faithfully, 



W. T. Bree. 



Allesley Rectory, near Coventry, Dec. 22, 1840. 



XLVI. — On some neiv or rare Fish occurring on the Coast of 

 Ireland. By Frederick M'Coy, Esq., M.G.S., &c. 



The following notices of new or rare fish found on the 

 coast of Ireland, have been drawn up from specimens con- 

 tained, for the most part, in the Museum of the Royal Dub- 

 lin Society, and which have been, with few exceptions, taken 

 during the last winter by Mr. William MacCalla, a very in- 

 telligent and successful collector of marine productions. Be- 

 sides the subjects of the present communication, he has en- 

 riched the Society's collection with many rare and interest- 

 ing species of Crustacea and naked Mollusca from different 

 parts of the coast, which may, perhaps, form the subject of a 



