228 



The Irish NaUi7alisi 



November, 



in the County Meath. Both of these waters communicate 

 with the River Dee. On asking Admiral Singleton, of Ardee, 

 Co. Meath, for further information, he assured me that 

 Minnows also inhabited the River Dee, but he believed them 

 to have been introduced by Mr. Fitzherbert, of Navan. When 

 I applied to the latter, he wrote that about 40 or 45 years ago 

 he transported a number of Minnows and Gudgeon to Shan- 

 tonagh, in the County Monaghan. He changed the water in 

 the can containing the fish on his arrival at the River Dee, 

 when some escaped, but he could not say whether the same 

 species had already been an inhabitant of that river at the time. 

 The remainder were placed into the stream at Shantonagh 

 which runs into Lough Erne, but no Minnows have since been 

 seen there. 



There are two other small streams from which we possess 

 specimens of Minnow in the National Museum. In 1896 Mr. 

 Edward Williams found it in a brook at I^oughlinstown, in 

 the Count)' Dublin, which is not, as far as I am aware, fished 

 for trout. Finally in 1894 I obtained specimens in the Bray 

 River, in the County Wicklow. Mr. Holt, of the Fisheries 

 Branch (Dept. of Agriculture and Technical Instruction) 

 informs me that the Minnow also inhabits the River Slaney 

 near Wexford. 



It will be noticed from the above that in a number of 

 instances the presence of the Minnow in Irish lakes and 

 rivers is attributed to introduction by man, though precise 

 information is not always obtainable. On the other hand we 

 possess several definite records of introductions which have 

 been unsuccessful and have failed to establish the species 

 where it did not previously exist. This clearly shows that the 

 introduction of a species into a new area is not by any means 

 so easy as it is generally held to be the case, which makes me 

 inclined to believe that the Minnow is really indigenous in 

 Ireland, at least in some of the eastern counties. 



Dublin Museum of Science and Art 



