io8 



The Irish Naturalist. 



September 



OBITUARY. 



W. J. C. TOMLINSON. 



The death of W. J. C. Tomlinson, which took place in Belfast at the 

 end of June, removes yet another of the active group of workers who, 

 since the demise of S. A. Stewart, have so well maintained the reputation 

 of Belfast as a centre of botanical field work. It is eighteen years since 

 Tomlinson made in this Journal his first contribution to botanical 

 literature — a note on the occurrence of Ranunculus civcinatus in Co. 

 x\ntrim. During the intervening time his free time was devoted mainly 

 to local field work, and his position on the staff of the Midland Railway 

 allowed him ready access to the greater part of Antrim and Londonderry. 

 The contribution by which he will be most remembered was his working 

 out of the distribution of that greatest prize of the Ulster flora, Spiranthes 

 Romanzoffiaiia. He showed that in the portions of Co Antrim adjoining 

 Lough Neagh this rare Orchid was locally abundant, and his description 

 of large areas of damp meadow all dotted over with the fragrant flower- 

 spikes of this rarity was enough to have made the mouths water of many 

 European botanists who have never seen the plant alive. He also, in 

 conjunction with Mr. Lilly, established the wide range of Vicia Ovobus 

 over the elevated moorlands lying between Lame and Ballymena— a 

 plant whose claim to inclusion in the north-eastern flora had for long 

 years rested on the single clump discovered by S. A. Stewart at the Sallagh' 

 Braes. Many other interesting records remain to attest his love of 

 exploration and his discriminating eye. Of recent years he suffered 

 from an aftection of the heart, which curtailed his activities. His death 

 will be a serious loss to the Belfast Field Club, of which he was a leading 

 member, and all Irish botanists will deplore the passing of yet another 

 of their small band. 



NOTES, 



ZOOLOGY. 

 The Humble Bees of Lambay. 



On the occasion of the visit of the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club on 

 27th July I made an attempt to add to the small list of species of 

 Aculeate Hymenoptera recorded for Lambay. (See Irish Nat., vol. v., 

 p. 186, and vol. xvi., pp. 43 and 44). The day was dull and rain 

 threatened so that a few Wasps and Humble Bees were the only species 

 noted. In these groups Bombus terrestris and Vespa sylvestris were the 

 only species previously recorded. On this occasion I took Vespa rufa 



