346 Floristik und Systematik der Phanerogamen. 



West Galway and Don egal and thus not following the line of grea- 

 test elevation, which lies in the S. W. and East; the „Germanic type" 

 is least numerously represented with 8 species in Clave, where it is 

 most abundant; it has distinctly limestone ränge the „Atlantic type" is 

 essentially coniined to the coast, occurring chieily in the W., S. W. and 

 S. E. and shovving an increase towards the South. 



The calciole plants are shown to occur most abundantly in the 

 West and not in the central Limestone Piain, which is explained by the 

 fact that the surface layers of the latter may be non-calcareous, all the 

 lime having been washed out. The calcifuge plants are more numerous 

 and widely spread, being most abundant in Kerry and West Cork. 



The ränge in I r e 1 a n d of the „types" oiGreatBritain shows that in 

 reality three topographical groups come into consideration. l.English 

 and Germanic, the latter an intensified section of the former ;2. Scottish 

 and Highland, the latter again intensified group of the former, and 

 3. Atlantic. The ränge of the last two divisions corresponds broadly 

 with that of the calcifuge flora, whilst that of the first agrees in many 

 respects with that of the calcicole flora. A map of Great Britain 

 and Ireland, in which isophytic lines represent the Northern limit of 

 the „English" and the Southern limit of the Scottish' Flora respectively. 

 is given and shows that the overlap of northern and southern forms in 

 England is considerably greater than in Ireland. 



The second part of the paper deals with the question of natural 

 geographic plant-groups in the Irish Flora. For this purpose maps were 

 employed; each of which showed by a uniform colour the ränge of one 

 species; and these maps were then sorted by eye, according to the 

 distribution of colour on each. Two classes were thus established : 

 A) Plants, which show no aggregation in any portion of the country and 

 are considered as „Plauts of general distribution". 1. A large proportion 

 of these are also of general distribution in Great Britain (Watson's 

 British type); the remainder are of rather southern ränge (Brit.-Engl. or 

 Engl.-Brit.) or quite southern (English type) in the latter island. Crepis 

 paludosa, distinctly northern in Great Britain, is of general distri- 

 bution in Ireland. B) Plants, which show an aggregation or diminution 

 in some part of the country The number of species of strongly marked 

 local ränge is not large, which is probabiy due to the small size of 

 Ireland as compared with Great Britain and to the prevalence of 

 greater uniformity in surface and climate. There is however a strong 

 tendency towards a central or marginal distribution, and hereon is based 

 the author's Central Type (2), limited by a line joining the Shannon 

 mouth with Waterford on the south and a line joining Sligo with 

 Dundalk bays on the North, and the Marginal Type (3), whose chief 

 feature is the arridance of the Central Limestone Piain. A number of 

 the rarer and more interesting plants of Ireland belong to this latter 

 type, but are restricted to limited areas or show an increase in some 

 direction. This made it necessary to draw two further boundaries; one 

 from Galway to Dundalk bays, running W to E. ; the other from 

 Londonderry toCork cities, running N. to S. The four further types 

 of distribution thus obtained are termed Ul tonian (4), Mumonian (5), 

 Lagenian (6), and Connacian (7), respectively after the four provinces 

 of Ireland, in which each type reaches its maximum. It is impos- 

 sible to do more than mention the number of species included by the 

 author in each of these types, although many interesting comparisons 

 with the British types of distribution are made. The Central type includes 

 38, the Marginal 46 (excluding maritime plants, which are considered to 

 belong to the type of general distribution), the Ultonian 45, the Mumonian 66, 

 the Lagenian 49 and the Connacian 69 species. In each type the distri- 

 bution of a small number of chosen species in shown by means of maps. 

 Finally a table is added, which approximately shows the characters of 

 the plants (water, marsh, bog, sand, chalk, maritime etc.) forming the 

 Irish types of Distribution in percentages of each group; it brings out 

 very strikingly the widely divergent features of the various Types of 

 Distribution. 



