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Notes on the Rock Pools of BundoranAuthor(s): J. E. DuerdenSource: The Irish Naturalist, Vol. 5, No. 6 (Jun., 1896), pp. 153-155Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25521008 .Accessed: 15/06/2014 10:57

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1896.] WARRZx-.7he Terns of Killala Bay. 153

miles further north, near Raughly, in Brownrs Bay, where a dozen pairs frequent a flat at the base of the sandhills, and

lay on the bare pasture between the tufts of bent grass. The BLACIK TzrN (Sleina nigra).-So rare a species i1i

Ireland has only once come under my notice as a visitor to Killala Bay, and it was by the merest chance I came across it as I was fishing for Sea-trout near Bartragh on the 12th of

October, I859. My boat was anchored in the channel between Baunross and

a wide stretch of sand-banks left bare by the ebb-tide, and while fishing I remarked a group of four or five small terns resting on the sand-bank close to the channel, but at first,

thinking they were young Common Terns, I paid no attention to them. However, after a while they rose from the sand, and began hawking after some flies, and the very sudden and

adroit twists and turns they made in the pursuit of their

diminutive prey showed they were birds strange to me. I at once got up my anchor and rowed after them, and as they were not at all shy I easily succeeded in shooting a pair of Black Terns in the first season's plumage. This little party, a family of terns, were evidently on their way south from their

breeding-haunt, but whether they were bred in this country on some remote bog or mountain lough, is difficult to say, for there is no record of the Black Tern having ever bred in Ireland.

NOTES ON THE ROCK POOLS OF BUNDORAN. BY J. E. DUERDEN, A.R.C.SC. (LOND.),

Curator of the Museum, Kingston, Jamaica.

In addition to the notes in the Irisl Naturalist for January,

I895, upon the " Rock-pools of Bundoran," I find I have a few

other observations which removal from Ireland has prevented fron further amplification. This latter occurrence may perhaps be considered sufficient apology for their disconnected nature; while the fact that some of the specimens were collected and handed to me by Prof. Johnson renders it obligatory upon me

to present them. In examining the Hydroids the greenish, somewhat flask

shaped tests of the Protozoan Folliculina ampulla, Mull., were

met with on the stems in considerable numbers. A 3


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154 The Irish Naturalist. [June,

The sponge Hy)neniacidon celata, Bowk. (Cliona celata, Grant),

occurred perforating the hard Carboniferous limestone near the Fairy Bridge at the eastern end of Donegal Bay.

The patches at the surface exhibited a very characteristic

appearance, and upon splitting the rock it was found to be

closely perforated by the sponge for a depth of two or three

inches. A well-known boring sponge, Cliona is commonly found inhabiting oyster and other shells all round the

coast, but only occasionally is it met with in limestone.

Bowerbank records it thus only from the limestone rocks around Tenby.

Among the Crustacea, a single specimen of the small Isopod, Dynamene Mon/agei, Leach, was obtained by Prof. Johnson from amongst the sea-weeds. It has previously been recorded from Bantry Bay.

Many specimens of the Sea-Hare, Aphysia fiunclala, Cuvier, were met with in the shallow rock-pools west of Bundoran, and also near Aughrus Point. Most were in the act of laying

their strings of brown-pink spawn. The majority were of a

uniformly dark olive green colour, while others were sprinkled with small opaque white patches over various parts of the body. Mr. Garstang has shown (Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc. (n.s.) vol. i., No. 4, I890, p. 403) that this species changes with

growth from a violet, purplisn, or rose-red colour, through

brownish-red and brown to olive-brown or olive-green. The rock-surface of the pools in which the present specimens were

found was coated with the pink Likholhamnion folymorphum to

which the dark Aplysia offered a great contrast.

Prof. Johnson found the rare Nudibranch, Zfermaa bifda, Montagu, while examining the weeds collected at low-water.

It was living upon Ha/urus (Grifflthsia) equiselefolius, to which the lake-red colour in its dorsal papillae presented a remarkable

resemblance. This protective or warning resemblance to the

objects upon which Nudibranchs live has lately been the sub

ject of various papers by Prof. Herdman, Mr. Garstang, and

others. Hermea bifida has been the object of some of Mr.

Garstang's experiments at Plymouth (Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc.

(n.s.), vol. i., No. 2, Oct., I889, p. '73) where it is interesting

to find that the creature, which there was alco collected by

Prof. Johnson, lives upon the same Alga as at Bundoran. It is

shown that its colour is purely adventitious, being determined mainly by that of the food within it undergoing digestion,



S896.] Dvim ron-Notes on ihe Rock Pools of Bundoran. 155

I obtained one specimen of the small greenish Nudibratnch, Hermea dendrilica, Ald. and Hane., living amongst the green Algae Bryopsis and Codiurn. Kept in captivity it laid a charac teristic round mass of spawn. It refused to live upon the Codium, and in a few days lost most of its green colour, be coming yellowish brown. Garstang's experiments show that this species entirely avoids the red sea-weeds, upon which its colour would render it conspicuous.

Many examples of the Nudibranch, tolis corona/c, Forbes, were found living amongst colonies of Tubular/a larynx col lected from the Fairy Caves, their colours harmonising with the light red of the polypites.

A SUBMERGED PINE-FOREST. BY t. LLOYD PRAZGER, B.J

(Read before the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, March gth, 1896.)

ONZ day in February last, Mir. R. Welch and I strolled along the beach northward of the new harbour at Bray, and just

within the confines of the County of Dublin. At the verge of low water, where the slope of coarse shingle gives way to a more level stretch of fine sand and boulders, which is only left dry at spring tides, we noticed some stumps and boughs of trees, and on examining them, found that they were em bedded in a compact layer of peat, which dipped southward at a low angle. The peat was full of branches and roots, and of cones of the Scotch Fir. On the southern side it disappeared under a bed of fine blue clay containing sea-shells; to the north, its broken edges overlay a stratum of coarse grey sand,

with rounded fragments of granite. We had but cursorily examined the spot when the tide crept ulp again and soon hid it from view.

Here evidently was a geological story to be unravelled; a

long history lay buried with this old peat-bed under the mud and shingle which the sea had heaped upon it; and it was for us to read that history, if we could. Thus it came about that in two days' time we again visited the place, and Mr. Welch secured several excellent photographs of the deposit; and a little later, selecting a spring-tide, Mr. Lyster Jameson and I

went down and thoroughly examined the spot, and determined the extent of the different beds and their relative position and



Article Contentsp. 153p. 154p. 155

Issue Table of ContentsThe Irish Naturalist, Vol. 5, No. 6 (Jun., 1896), pp. 145-168The Terns of Killala Bay [pp. 145-153]Notes on the Rock Pools of Bundoran [pp. 153-155]A Submerged Pine-Forest [pp. 155-160]Review: The Song of Birds [pp. 160-161]Some Recent Natural History Papers [pp. 162-163]Proceedings of Irish Societies [pp. 164-165]Field Club News [p. 165-165]NotesSeasonable Notes from Cushendun [p. 166-166]Ranunculus tripartitus, DC., an Addition to the Irish Flora [p. 166-166]Lathra squamaria in Co. Down [p. 166-166]Lathra squamaria [p. 166-166]Lathra squamaria in King's Co. [p. 167-167]Lathra squamaria [p. 167-167]Allium triquetrum, L., in Co. Cork [p. 167-167]Discovery of the genus Atypus in King's Co. [p. 167-167]Formica rufa [p. 167-167]A Stray Snake near Coleraine [p. 168-168]Scarcity of Land Rail [p. 168-168]Arrival of Spring Migrants in Londonderry District [p. 168-168]The Magpie in the Isle of Man [p. 168-168]

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