46 



The Irish Naturalist, 



March, 



of bats and others. vSeveral Irish words clearly referable 

 to Mammals have not as yet been identified, that is to say, 

 we do not know what kind of animal they were applied 

 to. This is the case especially among older words which 

 are now obsolete The peculiar interest in those words lies 

 in the fact that certain animals have probably vanished 

 from Ireland within historic times. If their Irish names 

 could be ascertained the approximate period of their 

 extinction might thus be traced. 



Mr. Alston's list of Scotch -Gaelic words contains many 

 supposed Irish names which I cannot find elsewhere, and 

 some of these may possibly have quite another meaning 

 than that indicated. 



List of Names. 

 (The numbers in brackets refer to the Bibliography, p. 53). 



Badger. 



t)|10C. 



Bat. 



IAUC05 (2), miolcoj; \.QAt6\x^ (2), '01AU65 (6), 1^11^65 

 leAt^if(7), liot)65 lex^t^1^^ (3), e^cleog (6), fciAt-An 

 lexxtxiifi (1), cx\U^6(l), -pexjfCAjA lu6 (1), leii^tDin le^t^ip (1). 



The fact that so many different names should have 

 been given to this animal, suggests almost that different 

 kinds of bat had been noticed by the Irish and named by 

 them. No less than seven kinds of bat inhabit Ireland, 

 but some of these are very critical species and not readily 

 recognised. Most if not all the English names of these 

 species are of quite modern origin, such as Hairy -armed 

 Bat and Leisler's Bat, and very few zoologists are able to 

 distinguish the various species except after close scrutin3^ 



Bear. 



m^ts^tti^m (2), t3eicif (2), (12), De-cAf (7) Young Bear, 

 upf 65 (6). 



