258 The Irish Naturalist. October, 



famous " Howth Moth," Dianthcecia lutcago var. Barrettii, long 

 believed to be confined to that peninsula, is now known to 

 have elsewhere a characteristically south-western range in the 

 British Isles, embracing Cornwall, Devon, Wales, Cork, and 

 Waterford. On the other hand, we have Lusitanian animals 

 which follow the south-western range oiSaxifraga Geuvi2ii\6. 

 Pinguiada grandiflora^ notably the famous Kerry Slug, 

 Geomalactis maculosus. So that of those southern animals which 

 reach Ireland, some range up the west coast, others up the east 

 coast. It strikes one as not unnatural that the same thing 

 should happen in the flora. 



As to the other rarer plants in the list above, Vale7'ianella 

 Auricula is, of course, a colonist ; its occurrence in profusion 

 in several fields in two different localities may be taken as 

 evidence that the seed did not come with this particular year's 

 crop, but that the plant w^as already established on the district. 

 I fancy it has been overlooked in Down. Chenopodiufn rub7U7n 

 was recorded from " side of the shore near Ballyhalbert " by 

 Templeton in 1799 ; also subsequently from Holy wood and 

 Belfast, in both of which places it is long extinct. These are 

 the only Ulster records, and I bracketed them in h'ish Top. 

 Bot. The most southern of the three stations now recorded 

 is within three miles of Ballyhalbert, so quite possibly it 

 exists in Templeton's actual station still. Carex divulsa was 

 a quite unexpected find. Lay town in Meath, 60 miles to the 

 south-west, is the nearest station of this plant, which, as 

 previously known, was limited to the southern half of Ireland. 

 Ge?'aniu77i colu77ibinii7Ji previously rested its claim to admission 

 into the Ulster flora on a single old record for Tyrone by 

 Admiral Jones ; though generally found on limestone rocks, 

 it is by no means confined to such, and its environment in the 

 Down station provides no evidence in favour of introduction 

 there. Cra77ibe 77iaritiwa, extinct in Donegal and in Antrim, 

 maintained its place in the Ulster flora solely on Mr. Stewart's 

 Quintin record, already over twenty-five years old. I searched 

 carefully the definite locality which he gives {Fl. N.E.I.), but 

 no trace of the plant could be seen, and it is undoubtedly 

 extinct there. Having thus expunged the Sea-kale from the 

 Ulster flora, it was the greater pleasure to restore it a couple 

 of hours later by verifying Mr. S. A. Moore's report by 



