132 May, 



HEPATIC^ FROM CO. WEXFORD. 



BY DAVID M'ARDLK. 

 (Collected for the Royal Irish Academy Flora aud Fauua Committee.) 



In May, 1899, Mr. J. N. Halbert and I spent a few days in 

 Enniscortli}', tempted by Mr. Moffat's description of Killough- 

 rim Forest^ which is about 4 miles northwards from the town. 

 "The main remnant," he writes, "of the old natural wood of Oak, 

 Birch, Hazel, H0II3', Guelder-rose, and Broom, which in b}'- 

 gone 3'ears covered a great part of the countr}-, is, so far as I 

 have been able to observe, almost completely free from intro- 

 duced vegetation." This was written by him in describing 

 the haunts of Formica ?'ufa, in which Mr. Halbert was much 

 interested. Although the place where the forest once stood 

 is thickl}^ covered with j^oung Oak and Alder trees, scrub, &c., 

 and now offers little temptation to the brj^ologist, the result 

 of my collecting was interesting, as will be seen b}^ the ap- 

 pended list. Among them is Lejeunca flava in small quantit}^ 

 typical specimens, which doubtless grew plentifully in the old 

 forest, where there was shelter and a moist genial atmosphere 

 suitable to this denizen of the Amazon Valley. The minute 

 Lejmnea ulicma was frequent on the bark of Alder, &c., and 

 the curious Metzge^'ia cottjugata was gathered in fruit, and 

 close to a pathway Ka^itia arguta flourished. The presence of 

 these plants leads one to conclude that many rare Hepatics 

 disappeared with the large trees and decaying logs which 

 afforded the material for their development. I went one 

 morning to the slopes of Mount Leinster and struck the Urrin 

 River about Woodbrook, and followed it up to its source near 

 Kilteley village, and collected on to the borders of Knockroe, 

 where a stream is the boundary between the counties of Wex- 

 ford and Carlow. I spent the last da}^ of otir visit along the 

 Slaney, which I crossed at Edermine Junction and got into 

 the wood (Ringwood ?}, which I followed to its termination 

 near the town, and found some interesting Hepatics. It was 

 a short but interesting excursion, and I regretted that time 



^ Irish Naturalist, vol. V., p. 143, 1896. 



