40 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
inclined to account on the same principle for the name “ Eascu-luachra,” given 
in parts of Kerry to the common lizard. If so, the epithet will mean, the “ eel 
of the rushes and if there he resemblance enough between the “ hound” and 
the “ eel” to justify the application of one name to both, I imagine the argu¬ 
ment will hold good equally for the “ eel” and the “lizard.” 
I have thus, I think, thrown some light on a subject obscure and difficult 
enough. Circumstances did not permit me to employ much time or research in 
its further investigation; but I hope I may be able to recur to it again, and 
explain, by means of the Celtic language, the popular English name of “Newt.” 
EXTRACTS FROM CAPTAIN M^CLINTOCK’S DIARY (PLATE IV). 
Captain M‘Clintock, R.N., read the following extracts from his diary, kept whilst 
he explored the Arctic regions in search of Sir John Franklin, illustrated by seve¬ 
ral preserved specimens of the animal and vegetable life of those parts:— 
Started 4th April, 1853 ; temperature, 0°—Saw a herd of nine oxen, but they 
were too wild to allow our sportsmen within 200 or 300 yards. 
6th April—Crossed Crooked Ravine ; saw a herd of musk oxen, seven in num¬ 
ber ; were too wild to afford us a supply of fresh beef; also saw two birds, sup¬ 
posed to be ravens, and a few deer tracks. 
16th April; temperature, 13°—Whilst upon the north shore, between the cart 
depot and Point Nias, the only animal seen was a hare, which Mr. De Bray shot, 
and the only tracks were those of deer and of a fox, which had mounted to the top 
of Parry’s monument. 
19th April; temperature, 4°—Saw a herd of 16 or 17 oxen moving slowly to 
the south-east, and two reindeer; crossed from Cape Fisher to the next point of 
land; here a dark, hard stone abounds, appearing to prothde from out of the sand¬ 
stone, and contains impressions of fossil corals. On the eastern side of this land 
Mr. De Bray found numerous small fragments of coal. About Cape Fisher the 
traces of oxen and deer were very numerous, although we saw scarcely any vegeta¬ 
tion. 
20th April; temperature, 16°—At 10 o’clock three oxen were'seen near the beach, 
and a herd of 15 further off; stopped the sledges whilst Mr. De Bray and I went 
in chase of the former. I was fortunate enough to approach unseen, and to shoot 
a bull; although at our first appearance all three of them galloped away, the two 
survivors now stood resolutely facing us, and when the party came up to carry down 
the meat we were obliged to pelt them with stones to get them to move away ; but 
once having commenced their retreat, they galloped off with most surprising speed 
up the hills for nearly two miles. 
21st April; temperature, 8°—Whilst crossing a bay, and about a mile off the 
land, we passed four separate tracts of lemmings, travelling in for the land. If 
these little creatures are migrating across the ice, there would seem to be some land 
in the north-east or east. 
22nd April; temperature, 1°—Rounded Flat Point; heard a ptarmigan call; 
encamped at noon, about ten miles from Long Point. Vegetation is more abundant 
here than we have found it since crossing Melvill’s Island ; traces of animals are 
very numerous, but not recent. 
24th April; temperature, 11°—When passing Grassy Cape we saw a ptarmigan, 
and a herd of 18 reindeer : one deer had a single antler, the other 17 had none. 
On the south-eastern slope of the Cape there was more grass than was hitherto seen 
25 th April; temperature, 12°—Saw the track of one wolf and of two or three foxes. 
29th April; temperature, 0°—Mr. De Bray saw three oxen and two ptarmigan. 
30th April; temperature, 1°—Passed over the extreme of Sandy Point; found 
plenty of a stunted description of moss, but hardly any grass ; saw a few fox tracks 
coming from the westward ; also some lemming tracks ; shot a brace of ptarmigan ; 
saw the footprints of an ox; travelled for the extreme Bluff, Cape De Bray; 
passed three deer tracks, crossing the strait to the north-west, as also those of 
foxes, lemmings, and ptarmigans. 
1st May ; temperature, 5°—Found grass—saxifrages and poppy, but hardly any 
moss ; saw several large lumps of gneiss ; one very large one had the rounded form 
of a boulder, about 50 feet above the sea, six feet in diameter. The first snow- 
