32 



The Irish Naturalist. 



February, 



favourable weather conditions, and a little later in the 3^ear, 

 the Portrush district would return a rich harvest to any coleo- 

 pterist who worked it. It is a district easily reached from both 

 Scotland and England ; there is a long stretch of some of the 

 most beautiful coast scenery in the United Kingdom, and an 

 exceedingly comfortable hotel (under the control of the Rail- 

 way Company), with grand views from its windows ; it is an 

 ideal spot for any coleopterist from the adjoining island of 

 Great Britain to spend his holidays in, and to acquire some 

 knowledge of Irish beetle fauna. 



The University, Edinburgh. 



A PECUIvlAR CASE OF NECROSIS IN A LAPWING'S 



FOOT. 



Wi A. R. NICHOLS, M.A. 



In November last Mr. W. Hande sent to the Dublin Museum 

 the leg of a l^apwing, with the middle toe missing and with 

 the base of the toes entwined with sheep-wool, the birds 

 having been shot at Teer, near Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh, on 

 the last day of the preceding month. 



The loss of the toe had apparently been due to necrosis of 

 the toe, caused by the wool having become tightly wound 

 round its base. The wool can be seen entwined round the 

 inner toe at b in figure B, and would probably in time have 

 caused also the loss of this toe ; it is also wound round the 

 lower end of the leg at ^rin figure but not tightly. Similar 

 cases of necrosis would appear to be not very uncommon, for 

 on the specimen being shown to Dr. Bowdler Sharpe at the 

 British Museum, he forwarded the ' Bulletin of the British 

 Ornithologists' Club' for November, 1904, containing an 

 account of the meeting on the 19th October, at which were 

 exhibited a series of legs of the l^apwing, showing various 

 stages of necrosis of the lower part of the leg, caused by sheep- 

 wool having become wound round the part affected. 



