March, 1903. 57 



THREE WEEKS IN SOUTH KERRY. 



Junk, 1902. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT AND BOTANY. 



BY FRANK BOUSKEI.L^ F.E.S. 



Thk manj^ interesting botanical problems of this district 

 suggested to us, some j^ears ago, an entomological trip, and 

 in June, 1902, the party was made up of Messrs. H. St. J. 

 Donisthorpe (Coleoptera), F. Bouskell (Coleoptera), W. J. 

 Kaye (lyepidoptera). 



A lodge was taken at Rossbeigh, near Glenbeigh, pic- 

 turesquely situated on the side of the mountain on the south 

 side of Dingle Bay, with the sea just below, and the sand- 

 hills stretching out in front. The view from our windows 

 was extensive — the mountainous country on the north side of 

 the Bay stretching for miles, the Slieve Mish mountains 

 showing up boldly, and forming a wonderful weather guide 

 foretelling rain infallibly for our first ten days. 



The country round us consisted of a series of mountain 

 ridges of Old Red Sandstone formation, whilst the valleys or 

 synclinals were occupied with Carboniferous limestone. 



This, roughly, is the formation of the whole of South 

 Kerry. 



The country we worked is all comprised in the South 

 Kerry district of the " Irish Topographical Botany "\ 

 Similar districts might, with advantage, be adopted for 

 entomology, and would in time prove invaluable to students 

 of distribution. 



As, out of a total of 930 square miles, over 300 square miles 

 of this district is unreclaimed mpuntain and bog, and 400 

 square miles is under grass, only 93 square miles under crops, 

 one would expect a larger fauna than it appears to have. 

 Take the Coleoptera ; out of the 1,630 species recorded for 

 Ireland, onl}^ about 650 are noted for the whole of Kerry, 

 and in the flora, where more work has probably been done 

 than in any other district, 680 species are recorded for South 

 Kerry. 



1 Irish Top. Bot.— Praeger. Proc, R. I. Acad. 3rd Series, Vol. vii., 1902. 



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