PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
81 
I imagine that, from these spores on our Irish specimens, the exotic ones have 
them also. By some it has been doubted if the plants, taken at Lough Foyle, are 
indigenous to that coast, but have supposed them to be stray waifs, brought from 
more temperate regions by tides or currents. I cannot subscribe to such ideas, 
from the fact of Mr. Sawers having found fronds of his Desmarestia in tolerable 
abundance during a large portion of last year (1853), even up to near Christmas, 
and as Desmarestia undergoes decomposition so very rapidly when dead, I cannot 
believe it possible those fronds, which we see here in excellent preservation, could 
have been knocking about on the ocean for months. I, therefore, conclude they 
grew not far from the spot where Mr. Sawers found them. In conclusion, I would 
wish to remark on the doubt implied in Dr. Montague’s paper as to the alga in ques¬ 
tion being a Desmarestia. The structure certainly agrees with that of ligulata. As 
my specimens were quite dry when they reached me, I could not determine if the 
single-jointed tube, mentioned by Dr Harvey, as traversing the fronds, exists in 
pinnatinervia. Should it be found there, I have no doubt that it will appear in 
the nervures and midrib. Altogether, the question is one of much interest to algo- 
legists, and I look forward, with expectation, that Dr. Harvey will investigate the 
subject on his return, and clear up existing doubts. I think it very evident that if 
the pinnatinervia be a Desmarestia, and if the tubercles I have observed on ligu¬ 
lata be the true fruit, then Dr. Harvey will have to construct the genus anew, for 
the diagnosis does not meet the existing facts. 
[Mr. Sanders gave very clear explanations of his several microscopical examina¬ 
tions, which he illustrated by handsomely-coloured diagrams. He was clearly of 
opinion that he had detected the spores indicative of a true state of fructification.] 
The Chairman said that the society was much indebted to Mr. Sanders for the 
very interesting statement he had given—interesting, because Mr. Sanders had 
brought forward an investigation which had hitherto escaped the notice of the 
scientific. He would be happy to hear any remarks on Mr. Sanders’s views. 
Mr. Andrews said that it would be difficult to comment on the excellent state¬ 
ment made by Mr. Sanders, unless the same opportunities of investigation had been 
afforded, that Mr. Sanders so perseveringly followed out. The highest credit was 
due to Mr. Sanders in submitting views which had not been noticed by any autho¬ 
rity in algology. Statements, so put forward, had frequently influenced fuller 
inquiries, and which often resulted in the formation of new alliances or genera. In 
a notice of the discovery, in Cork harbour, by Mr. Isaac Carroll, of Stenogramme 
interrupta, Dr. Harvey, in this society, gave a review of the several discoveries and 
wide distribution of that plant. This genus was established by Dr. Harvey; 
Agardh, who had constituted it a Delesseria, having mistaken the linear eoncep- 
tacle for a nerve. Many of our most commonly distributed lichens and mosses are 
considered a rarity when found in fruit, and several species of the most frequent 
occurrence have never been known to fruit in the British Isles. Desmarestia ligu¬ 
lata is a plant of common occurrence. On the west coast it may be found in the 
tide pools of low water mark, and to the greatest depth that algae exist. Mr. An¬ 
drews trusts that Mr. Sanders may successfully establish the investigations which 
he has so ably commenced. 
Dr. Kinahan next read the following paper:— 
ON THE INJURY DONE TO FRY IN FISH PONDS AND VIVARIA, BY THE SMOOTH- 
TAILED STICKLEBACK. G. LEIURUS (CUV. AND VAL.). 
During a former session I had the honour to submit to your society some ob¬ 
servations on the spawning of the above fish ; to-night I have occasion again to call 
your attention to it with reference to a very different matter, the destruction it 
causes among young fry, a subject of economic importance, since the breeding of 
fish has become not only a fashionable amusement, but even an object of commer¬ 
cial speculation. That the smooth-tailed stickleback, and, indeed, all the fresh¬ 
water fish of that genus, are, when grown, most destructive to fry, even of fish much 
larger than themselves—such as gudgeon, rudd, dace, minnow, trout, &c.—has 
long been established by Baker and others, and any one anxious to verify it for 
himself need but to watch the shallows adjacent to the spawning beds, where the 
