10 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
Wolstans, and those of Mr. Doherty, at Bushmills. He also alluded to his own ex¬ 
periments at the Custom-house, and described the progressive growth and develop¬ 
ment of the young salmon fry, which had been of such attraction in the Exhibition, 
and which were still thriving well. At the meeting in February, Mr. Andrews 
again brought forward some notices with regard to the membranaceous duck, as he 
had received reliable statements fully confirmatory of the' fortunate circumstance of 
its capture in Castlemaine Harbour. He entered more fully into its character and 
affinities ; and, through the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Blackburne, of Valencia, he 
had the opportunity of exhibiting the specimen of the dusky petrel (Puffinus 
obscurus) which had been caught off Valencia; also the Manx petrel, and the egg 
taken with the nest in the cliffs of the same island. Mr. Andrews also exhibited 
the egg of a petrel, which had been brought to him from the smaller Skellig Island, 
and which, on being compared with specimens of petrels’ eggs in the British 
Museum, bore strong resemblance to the egg of Buhver’s petrel (Thalassidroma 
Bulweri). Dr. Kinahan, in observing on the interest of the facts of birds breeding 
in parts of the country where they were only considered as occasional visitants, men¬ 
tioned his belief that siskins breed in Rathgar and Donnybrook, in the county 
Dublin. In Powerscourt woods and in Tipperary, he had met those birds as late 
as the end of July. He had no doubt but that the red-wing sometimes bred here, 
and likewise the black-cap warbler. The next paper, on the same evening, was by 
Dr. Kinahan, u On the Reproduction and Distribution of the Smooth Newt, and 
notices of the popular superstitions relating to it.” Doctor Kinahan’s attention being 
directed to the examination of a great number of these animals in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Dublin, he had the opportunity of watching the earlier stages of develop¬ 
ment of the only species met there, the smooth Newt (Lissotriton punctatus). These 
remarks were with reference to the habits of the smooth Newt, its mode of depositing 
its eggs, and development of the ova, and which, closely watching through the dif¬ 
ferent stages, led him to dissent in many points with the conclusions arrived at by 
Mr. Higginbotham (whose statements appeared in the u Annals of Natural History” 
for the month of December, 1853), and in the belief of Rusconi and others; but 
that his observations could corroborate most fully the views of Professor Bell. Dr. 
Kinahan then entered into details of the several parts of Ireland and peculiar locali¬ 
ties the smooth Newt most commonly occurred in, mentioning the provincial terms 
and superstitions relating to it in different districts. In the month of March, Mr. 
Gilbert Sanders gave the result of a series of microscopical examinations of the 
genus Desmarestia (the species ligulata), being a marine alga, of common occur¬ 
rence on our coasts, but in which no trace of fructification had hitherto been de¬ 
tected. Mr. Sanders’s observations led him to believe that he had detected the 
spores, indicative of fructification, in the species ligulata, and he demonstrated the 
forms of the tubercles on the pinnee, which he regarded as conceptacles and super¬ 
ficial. If further investigations enabled him to maintain the views he had formed, 
there could be no hesitation in removing that genus from the order Sporachnacese 
to Dictyotacere, or probably the constitution of a new genus. He had not been 
able to detect any appearance of fruit in either of the other species—D. aculeata or 
D. viridis. Mr. Sanders exhibited and made some remarks on D. pinnitinervia, 
which had been added to the marine botany of the country by his friend, Mr. 
Sawers, of Londonderry. Dr. Kinahan followed, by a paper u On the Injury done 
to fry in fish-ponds and vivaria, by the smooth-tailed stickleback (Gasteros- 
teus leiurus).” In this paper, Dr. Kinahan noticed the extreme voracity of the 
stickleback, or pinlceen, and gave the observations of C. Brunetti on its destructive 
habits in destroying the fry or young of the goldfish, by greedily attacking 
and biting away the pectoral and tail-fins of the young fish, and eventually 
causing their death. In the review of the habits of the sticklebacks and 
their distribution, Doctor Kinahan exhibited much power of observation, so 
essential to a naturalist, and an untiring energy in folloAving out the most 
minute details of interest on the subject. Common as its distribution would 
appear to be, there was a district in the north of Clare, around Feakle, 
where it was utterly unknown, even by name, its place being taken by the 
smooth loach (Cobitis barbatula) ; and the gudgeon, which, in general, is a local 
fish, swarmed there in abundance. The minnow was also unknown there. In the 
