PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
11 
neighbouring counties the smooth-tailed stickleback is plentiful. In addition to the 
list offish which he had given with reference to the Didder, he could now add the 
introduction of the dace (Lenciseus vulgaris). Mr. Andrews exhibited some 
recent specimens of fish, with reference to his paper on the harbour fish of the south¬ 
west coast; among them were fine specimens of Crenilabrus tinea, C. cornubicus, 
and C. gibbus, which were all referable to one species—that of C. tinea. These 
were taken in Dingle and Ventry harbours, county of Kerry, and also specimens 
of Crenilabrus microstoma. A plant of Scolependrium vulgare (var. marginatum) 
was exhibited by Dr. Kinahan, found by him at Tinnehinch, county of Wicklow— 
being its first record as Irish. The peculiarities of the forms discovered in England 
by Sir W. C. Trevelyan and Mr. Wollaston were mentioned, and a series of spe¬ 
cimens, illustrative of the remarks, exhibited. In the month of April, Mr. Ffennell, 
Commissioner of Fisheries, submitted very full details with regard to the salmon fish¬ 
eries of this country, and dwelt very forcibly on the great importance of scientific 
inquiry in the promotion of practical knowledge. He mentioned the interest taken 
in the experiments he was carrying out in the growth of the young salmon fry, and 
which induced a Dr. Merron, Professor of Anatomy in one of the London colleges, 
to visit Dublin, for the purpose of understanding the system of those operations. 
Dr. Merron was interested in the formation of a company for the object of trans¬ 
porting the ova, and propagating the salmon in the rivers of New Zealand. In com¬ 
menting on the failures last season of the experiments of the Messrs. Ashworth, he 
alluded to some peculiarities in the habits of the male and female salmon in the 
spawning season. Under the aid of the Board of Public Works, he had projected 
a salt-water enclosure at Kingstown, and he doubted not but that the young fry 
would there thrive, and reach mature growth when transported at the proper season. 
He was satisfied that enclosures of inlets and estuaries on our coasts, might be con¬ 
verted into valuable fish parks. Mr. Andrews made some observations on 
the restocking of our rivers by artificial means, and alluded to the causes 
affecting lakes and rivers, which might influence the seasons of the early and late 
breeding fish, and of the periods of their condition. Mr. Andrews then made 
some slight allusions to the Syngnathidee, or Pipe-fish family, and mentioned that 
several that he had‘obtained on the south-west coast were identical with the species 
occurring on the shoves of Finland and in the Baltic, particularly the two varieties 
of S typhle. Dr. Kinahan then read a paper u On the Abnormal Forms of 
Ferns.” In this statement he elaborately entered into the characteristics of aberrant 
forms of variety and subvariety, of permanent and non-permanent continuities, and 
of the peculiarities of venation, division of frond and fertility, submitting a very 
extensive list of these forms of the several species of British ferns. At the meeting 
in May, Mr. Williams, in presenting to the museum specimens of game fowl from 
Ceylon, made remarks on the peculiarities of the breed, which differed in the 
carriage of the tail from all the known varieties of domesticated poultry. He 
noticed the distinctive characters of the Cingalese fowl; and, if disposed to speculate 
on that question, might be inclined to refer the Ceylon fowl to the Gallus furcatus, 
which is wild in Ceylon. Mr. R. J. Montgomery made some remarks on the pecu¬ 
liarity of locality of the nest of the cole-titmouse (Parus ater), and upon that of the 
little grebe (Podiceps minor). Dr. Kinahan called the attention of the Society to 
two bats presented by him, and upon which he had formerly made remarks, refer¬ 
ring one obtained by him in the county of Clare, in 1852, to Vespertilio Dau- 
bentonii; the other, obtained in the county of Kildare, in 1858, to V. Nattereri ; 
though, at the same time, he pointed out differences from the description of that 
bat. He now, through the kind assistance of Professor Bell, could refer the one 
captured in Clare to the Vespertilio mystacinus, a species new to Ireland, and the 
other bats to V. Daubentonii. Thus the Society’s collection included V. Nattereri, 
V. mystacinus, and V. Daubentonii—the two first being as yet unique as Irish. 
Doctor Farran followed, with a paper u On Helix pisana, audits localities.” In 
presenting a beautiful series of the shells of this local mollusca (designated cin- 
genda ) to the Society, he was anxious to clear up the vagueness of its hitherto - 
named localities, by reducing to a certainty the extent of its distribution as an Irish 
species. He gave some details with regard to this beautiful shell, and observed that 
it may be obtained at Lay town, Betty stown, and up to Drogheda—these places being 
