PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
99 
fleeting, attach themselves below the periphory ; in which event, the spire is wont 
to become more elevated, and its more rounded turns to swell out, in some degree, 
above the suture.” 
I hope I have succeeded in establishing sufficiently good claims for this shell, to 
induce naturalists to give it a more attentive investigation; and it is a subject of so 
much interest, that it will, I think, amply reward them. 
At the same time, as I before observed, I obtained Ianthina pallida. This very 
rare species has only twice before been found on our coasts—once at Miltown 
Malby and once at Kilkee. The specimens of Spirula Peronii which I found were 
all dead. This beautiful shell has only, I believe, occurred five times on the Irish 
coast, and but once in England, on the Cornish coast. It has been provisionally 
excluded from the list of British Mollusca, “ because,” as Dr. Fleming observes, 
“ we have to determine their capability of living in our seas before their right to a 
place in our Fauna can be established.” 
Large numbers of the Velella were also thrown ashore in company with the 
Ianthinas. When floating on the surface, with the sail or membrane raised, drift¬ 
ing before the wdnd, they present an interesting spectacle, which I observed to 
advantage when rowing in the bay in one of the small canoes or coracles peculiar 
to the west coast of Ireland. The Velella when captured throws off a very deep- 
purple, viscous liquid, which stains the hand much more intensely than that exuded 
by the Ianthina; indeed, I believe, some naturalists have expressed it as their 
opinion that the purple colour of the Ianthina was probably derived from devouring 
these Velellae. 
I omitted mentioning that I found the Lepas pectinata and Vitrea vitrina attached 
to numerous specimens both of Ianthina communis and I. pallida. A few of these 
Cirripedes were fixed almost on the apex of the shell, but by far the greater number 
were attached immediately below the umbilicus. 
Mr. Wakeman gave the following continuation of his remarks on the remains of 
animals, &c., at Dunshaughlin:— 
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of presenting to this Society a couple of 
heads of the ancient Irish cow, found, with a vast accumulation of animal remains, 
round what had been an artificial island, in a lake (now dried up) in the vicinity of 
Dunshaughlin. Of late years several large heads of similar remains have been dis¬ 
covered in various parts of the country, and it is to be regretted that our Society 
does not possess a selection from these interesting relics of ruins of animals which 
anciently existed in our island, and some of which, at least, have become extinct. 
The first, and, perhaps, the most important, of these discoveries was made, about 
twelve years ago, at Dunshaughlin, in the county of Meath. The locality is well 
known in Irish history as Lough Gabor, a name now softened to Lagore, and may 
be described as a boggy flat, about one mile and a half in length by about a mile in 
breadth. The lake, properly speaking, has not existed in the memory of any living 
person; but in winter time, after heavy rains, the greater portion of the bog is 
covered with water. A slight eminence, crowned by a solitary tree, is still called 
u The Island ;” and it was about this spot that the animal remains, amounting to 
so many hundreds of cart-loads, were found. The bones were those of cows, deer, 
swine, sheep, horses, and, I believe, of hogs. Several human skulls and other 
bones were also observed, bearing testimony to the struggles which the annals 
inform us took place round the island of Lough Gabor. Intermixed with the bones 
were found an immense quantity of antiquities, consisting of spear-heads, swords, 
knives, brooches, combs, &c. ; and these articles, so highly interesting to the anti¬ 
quary, are scarcely less so to the naturalist, as, by an examination of their form 
and style of ornamentature, some conclusion may be arrived at as to the date of 
the deposit. From the fact of the frontal bone in most of the skulls, which had 
belonged to the lower animals, having been fractured, apparently by the blow of a 
hatchet, many of which instruments were found among the debris, there can be 
but little doubt that the creatures to which they had belonged had been killed as 
food by the occupants of u The Island.” How much, then, is it to be regretted 
that no tolerable collection of these very interesting remains is known to exist. By 
a careful collection and examination of such subjects, much light might be thrown 
