Zoology and Botany. 405 



disappearance of the haddock from the Frith of Forth for twelve 

 years, when it again appeared. 



14. Mr Sturge of Birmingham, read an account of a toad found 

 alive embodied in a solid mass of new red sandstone ; it was 

 stated to have been found at the depth of 10^ feet in a small 

 cavity, and it lived four days. Mr Mackay informed the meet- 

 ing that he had found several toads at Killarney about thirty 

 years back, and that they are there called black frogs. It was 

 Mr Curtis's opinion, that several species of toads would be dis- 

 covered in these kingdoms, if they were carefully examined ; 

 and Mr Babington alluded to the two species already de- 

 scribed. 



15. Dr Martin Barry communicated the result of his observa- 

 tions on the colour of the sky, as seen from the summit of Mont 

 Blanc. Dr Barry l'urther noticed, that the effect seemed to be 

 modified by the position of the sun in regard to those portions 

 of snow from which such rays came ; and it appeared to him 

 that some discrepancies on the results obtained by Saussure in 

 his Cyanometrical Observations at the Col du Geant and at 

 Chamonix, were referrible to the latter cause. 



16. Mr Charles W. Hamilton of the Horticultural Society of 

 Ireland, gave Mr Mackay (who made this communication) an 

 account of a yew found in a bog in Queen's County, in which he 

 was able to count annual rings indicating a growth of 545 years. 

 Yet so compact was the wood, or so close the layers, that the 

 diameter of the trunk did not exceed a foot and a half. The 

 growth had been very slow during the last three centuries, for 

 near the exterior there were about 100 rings within the space of 

 one inch. From the size and number of the yews found in Ire- 

 land, and the elevated stations they take amongst the rocks 

 when they assume the stunted appearance c ' the juniper, Mr 

 Mackay has no doubt of its being a native trc. He exhibited 

 the common and the Florencecourt Yew, a beautiful variety* 

 growing like the cypress. He added, that the seeds of the Irish 

 yew would produce the common tree ; but Dr Graham suggested, 

 that as there might be mules, it would not prove that they were 

 the same species. Mr Babington stated, that another variety 

 had been discovered, in which the horizontal branches produced 



