PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
53 
Mr. J. R. Dombrain presented, on behalf of his brother, Edward Pombrain, Esq., 
of Ballycullen, county Wicklow, two specimens of the blackcap warbler fC. atrica- 
pilla) ; the one shot in that neighbourhood, in October, 1855, the other in January, 
1856, rendering it probable that the latter specimen had wintered in the country. 
Also, three, specimens of the brambling(F. montium), shot in the same place during 
the summer of 1854, and a male and two female crossbills (L. curvirostra), shot by 
Charles Y. West, Esq., in Ovoca valley, in the same county. 
The marked thanks of the society were voted to Lord Clermont, Mr. Andrews, 
and Mr. E. Pombrain, for these valuable additions to the Society’s collection. 
The Chairman then called on Mr. Andrews for his paper on Madeiran forms of 
ferns at Killarney. 
Mr. Andrews said that in his review of the botany or zoology of a country or 
district he had always been desirous of tracing affinities and geographical distri¬ 
bution, and the identity of animals or plants in different countries. He had already 
brought before the Society the occurrence in Kerry of some of the plants of Corn¬ 
wall, and numerous instances of those of Portugal. He now wished to draw the 
attention of the Society to a beautiful and luxuriant form of Asplenium, bearing a 
strong resemblance to A. Trichomanes. He had obtained several of these beauti¬ 
ful plants growing in a very sheltered and secluded spot near Killarney, surrounded 
by high rocks. Its peculiar habits of growth, the great length of the rachis or stipes, 
and the luxuriant and rich green of the fronds, struck him as differing very re¬ 
markably from the more common forms of A. Trichomanes. On referring to 
Hooker and Greville’s beautiful work, “ leones Filicum,’’ T. 195, he found it to 
be identical with the Asplenium fallax of the Rev. T. Lowe, named so by him on 
account of its affinities with A. Trichomanes. It was, however, previously found by 
Mr. Masson, and placed in the Banksian Herbarium, under the name Asplenium 
anceps, Solander. The Rev. T. Lowe, who has given many interesting details 
concerning the plants of Madeira and Porto Santo, found this plant at an eleva¬ 
tion of 2,000 to 3,000 feet, and at Ribeiro d’Anatado at an elevation of 4,000 feet. 
It was also found at a low elevation with Asplenium acutum. In Madeira it usurps 
the place of A. Trichomanes. Mr. Andrews considered the Kerry plants to be 
identical with those of A. Anceps of Madeira, and to bear the same relation 
to A. Trichomanes as A. Acutum of Madeira does to the ordinary form of A. 
Adiantum nigrum. 
Professor Haughton recognised this form of fern as one which had been shown 
to him by a policeman at Killarney, and which at the time struck him as differing 
in many respects from the ordinary form of Aspl. Trichomanes. 
After some further discussion, the Chairman called on 
Mr. R. J. Montgomery for his paper on the occurrence of the Egyptian goose 
(Chenalopex iEgyptiacus). These two specimens of the Egyptian goose were killed 
on the river Boyne in November last, 1855. Having been told that a small flock 
of barnacles (Anser leucopsis) had been resorting to the river lately, I went several 
times to look for them, the barnacle being uncommon in that immediate locality. 
I saw the flock repeatedly, but at a great distance ; I, however, remarked that they 
had a patch of white appearing on the wing when extended and were not barnacle; 
and I may here observe that of all the different species of wild geese visiting this 
country the Egyptian goose when on the wing is by far the handsomest. By 
watching them closely day after day, and carefully noting their time, and the course 
they took in their daily excursions, I succeeded on the 14th of November in getting 
a shot at them as they flew past the boat; the flock consisted of five individuals, I 
knocked down one, the female on the table, but being merely wounded, I only suc¬ 
ceeded in obtaining her five days afterwards. On the morning of the 16th I heard 
that another had been shot by a man in the employment of James Brabazon, Esq., 
of Mornington House. That gentleman in the most handsome manner at once pre¬ 
sented me with the bird. The geese first appeared in that neighbourhood at the 
beginning of November; about eight days before they were first noticed it blew a 
strong gale for three or four days from N.E. to E.N.E, and continued still from 
those points until they were seen. These were the circumstances under which I 
obtained the birds. Now, with regard to their being genuine wild geese, I am 
aware that from the fact of Egyptian geese being so often kept on ponds in a state 
