PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
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coquettishly turn off, and sail slowly away; he immediately would follow, but after 
a short pursuit, would return, as if in dudgeon, to his old beat, on which she would 
begin her old circle-sailing and teasing of him. Sometimes another fish would 
intrude on him while thus engaged, when an instant chase would occur. If the 
fish were a gudgeon, I remarked he as often let them alone as chased them. If 
this chase lasted too long the hen would sail off for deep water, and then it was his 
turn to follow her and bring her back, darting backwards and forwards in the most 
ludicrously-distressed manner possible ; and when he found her, pretending not to 
see her, but keeping aloof—a proceeding she did not at all seem to relish—as she 
began her old circle-sailing immediately. Neither this male pinkeen nor that first 
mentioned would allow a second female, on any pretence, near the nest, chasing 
them away even more rancourously than the males—from which, I believe these 
fish to be strictly monogamous, though authors state the contrary. I could not 
remark the fishes in their contest using any other weapon than their teeth, though 
I watched carefully for the side charge with their dorsal spines, described so fully 
by authors. From the quantity of ova in this nest you may form some slight idea 
of the pest that the fish can become in a pond, though there is a great check put on 
their numbers by the numerous individuals devoured by the full-grown males of 
other nests. 
Dr. Kinahan made the following statement:—In the paper read by me at our 
last meeting, I stated that on one point I was still in doubt—viz., how far varieties 
combine inter se. Since then I have been enabled to arrive at the following con¬ 
clusions on this subject—opportunely, indeed, as it completes the scheme I was 
endeavouring to lay before you :—I find that these combinations do take place oc¬ 
casionally, and that they, with a very few exceptions (more I am inclined to think 
seeming than real), take place only between the sub-groups of the same group— 
f.e., between variety and variety, and sub-variety and sub-variety. These con¬ 
clusions, as well as those laid before you on former occasions, were all confirmed 
by examinations of, I believe, the two best collections of the kind in England— 
viz., that of Dr. H. Allchin, in London, and that of G. B. Wollaston, Esq., in 
Kent. Through the kindness of both these gentlemen, I have been much indebted 
both for information regarding the plants and by the opportunity afforded me of 
examining forms, many of them unique. In Mr. Wollaston’s collection there is a 
form of hart’s-tongue, raised by him from seed, which well illustrates the combina¬ 
tion of forms. In it the lower portion of the frond represents the var. laciniatum , 
while the apex represents the var. cristatum. In one frond this was shown in a 
remarkable manner, the stipe was cleft, one portion was diminished to a fibrous 
hook, about a quarter of an inch long, the other bore a frond, the base marginate 
serrate, and the apex divided into two, the one division cristate, the other reduced 
to a branched lash of bare fibrils. The establishment of this fact clears up the only 
difficulty in arranging the varieties I met with, establishing an additional class of 
mixed forms. Thus, the Athyrium, found in Joyce Country by Robert Gunning, 
and figured by Newman, as well, I believe, as the form found by Mr. A. Smith, 
near Belfast, are to be referred to a form Laciniato-cristatum , being a combination 
of laciniatum and cristatum. 
Dr. Kinahan exhibited a beautiful form of Athyrium Eilix-fcemina, Newman , 
obtained in June, 1854, near Castlekelly, County Dublin. In it the segments of 
the pinnae are pinnatifid; the indentations entire at their edges, and bearing the 
sori in the angle; the spore-cases projecting beyond the edge of the frond, which, 
added to the bulging forwards of the substance of the pinnule, gives the plant much 
the appearance of a Davallia, or rather of a Loxsoma, though, of course, differing 
in the shape and position of the indusium from either of these genera. In habit, 
this plant resembled Athyrium cicutarium, especially in the remarkable fact of 
its segments bearing but a single vein and sorus, thus corroborating the illustrious 
Robert Brown’s opinion, who rejects this as a distinctive character, in opposition 
to Smith and Bernhardi, by whom the genus Darea or Caenopteris has, owing to 
this character, been separated from Athyrium. This plant is also a beautiful ex¬ 
ample of the variety laciniatum {Kin.'); the plant was growing in a shady nook 
along with a plant of the ordinary form. It is sparingly fruitful. 
Doctor Farran wished to offer a few observations prior to the adjournment of the 
