178 The Irish Naiuralist. October, | 



to the island and remain on it for some time, and finally \ 



the results of their observations had to be collected and | 



published. Here was an opportunity for an organiser who i 



feared neither trouble nor worry. The committee, having | 



no remuneration to offer for such a post, were not over- j 



whelmed with applicants. Indeed everyone felt that the ; 



only available man capable of carrying out such a task was i 



Mr. Praeger. When the situation was offered to him he i 



cheerfully accepted the onerous duties connected with it, | 



although enough work had been laid out to fill up entirely ! 



his leisure hours for the next four years. It was soon \ 



decided that the scheme at first proposed by the committee | 



v/as not comprehensive enough and that the opportunity i 



should not be lost of producing a printed record of a survey ! 



far surpassing anything that had hitherto been attempted. \ 



The enlarged scheme included not only a biological and j 

 geological survey of Clare Island. It was to embrace the 



history and archaeology of the island, its place- and family- \ 



names, the Gaelic plant and animal names, the climate, as \ 



well as the fauna and flora of the surrounding seas and the ] 



opposite part of the mainland. All this increased the i 



original scope of the undertaking enormously, but the ; 



committee succeeded in raismg the necessary funds by \ 



applying to the Royal Irish Academy, to the British , 



Association, the Royal Society of London, and the Royal ■ 



Dublin Society. Private donors also helped generously. , 



Assistance from specialists in all branches of zoology 



and botany was imperative, and one of the most gratifying j 



results of the committee's efforts was the generous response j 



to their appeal from naturalists who lived far from \ 



the scene of operations. Thus Sir Henry Hawley, j 



Mr. Cotton, Mr. Wallis Kew, Mr. Scourfield, Mr. Rousselet, j 



Mr. Dunkerly, Mr. Heron -Allen, Mr. Earland, Mr. Wailes, \ 



Miss Lister and Miss Lorrain Smith travelled from London , 



to Clare Island, some of them several times. Professor \ 



West came from Bradford, Mr. Morley from Newmarket, \ 



Mr. Carleton Rea from Worcester, Mr. James Murray I 



from Edinburgh, Dr. Tattersall from Manchester, while ■ 



Mr. Eugene Penard braved even the long journey from > 



