British PearlsAuthor(s): Nora FisherSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 1, No. 12 (Jul., 1927), p. 233Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25531396 .

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July, 1927] 233

odour?the pack at once found itself completely baffled, and had

ultimately to be called off. The name of the plant I have not been told; in any case, in the interest of Beynard, it is pro

bably best kept out of print. The fox is subject to much geographical variation, both in size

and colour; and the so-called "

Black-bellied Fox," of which an

Irish example is in the Dublin Museum, is considered a South

European race, and seems to be the only form found in South

Italy, Sicily and Sardinia. Its occasional occurrence both in Ireland and Great Britain may be a result of introductions that have taken place in both islands with a view to keeping up the stock.

ZOOLOGICAL SIFTINGS.

A RARE BRACONID, NEW TO IRELAND.

The Braconidae are closely allied to the Ichneumon'Flies, with which

they were formerly grouped. They are all parasites, the best known species

being; oerhaps Ayanteles glomeratus, the enemy of the Cabbage White

Butterfly, whose larvae having consumed that of a butterfly spin the little

yellow silky cocoons which we often find beside the dead and empty skin

of the caterpillar. The Braconid to which this note refers was taken fcy me while it was investigating the crevices of a rotten stump, about a

mile or more west of Arklow, on the estate of Glenart Castle, Co. Wick low. Its very curious appearanoe rendered identification easy and its

name is Histcromerus mysf acinus Wesmael. Marshall in British Braconidoz, o. 75, 1885, states :?" This curious insect, of unknown habits, has not hitherto been noticed as British, The pair I possess was given to rue by

Ward, who had. several which he wished to get named. They were taken, I believe, in or about London. Wesmael possessed two females taken prcb ably near Brussels." Mr. G. T. Lyle, who has confirmed my identification of the Wicklow specimen, which is a female, states that it is rhe only one he has seen, except one of Marshall's in the British Museum, He adds that Mr, Morley reports,that he has taken it, but where I do not know.

The insect appears to be certainly an addition to the Irish fauna.

National Muswm, Dublin. A. W. STELFOX.

BRITISH PEARLS.

Everyone knows how pearls are formed, but it is not generally known that many kinds of British marine shells sometimes produce pearls. Jeffreys, in .his British Conchology, enumerates eleven bivalves and one univalve as

occasionally bearing pearls. His list is as follows (I have brought the names up to date) : Ostrea

edulis. Mytilus eduli*. Volsclla modiolus, V. barbata (sessile), Lucina

borealis, Cardium edule, Astarte sulcata, Gastrana fragilis, Solecurtus

sCopula, Pharus legumen, Mya truncata. and Littorina Uttorea. I have been able to add four more species to the above list. They are Anomia

ephippium, Solen ensis, S. siliaua, and Mactra stultorum, all from Green island. In the case of M. stultorum, the pearls might be more accurately termed

" pearl blisters.'* I have frequently taken 5*. siliqua with pearls on

the shell, sometimes quite big ones.

My cousin, Miss Kitty M'Cleery, often found small white round pearls in the common mussels from Whitehouse,

In nearly every case the pearls are attached to the shell, and usually they are dull in colour and irregular in form. Naturally, they are valueless.

Greenisland. NORA FISHER.

[Other "Siftings" are unavoidably held over.?Ed.]

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