NOTES ON IRISH NATURAL HISTORY. 575 



and species into which that plant has been divided : I had 

 better say " London Pride," for we cockneys, who cultivate 

 the plant in our sooty gardens, generally combine the species 

 under this one familiar term. It is very delightful to see this 

 plant in its native wilds, adorning the rugged rocks with its 

 elegant panicle of flowers ; in such situations it seems to pos- 

 sess an interest which we never attach to it in a state of cul- 

 tivation. 



Immediately on starting from the little inn at Leenane, or 

 " Jack Joyce's " as it is usually termed, I found the first spe- 

 cimen I had seen of the Irish heath, — Menziesia poli folia : 

 up to that moment I was unacquainted with the plant, and 

 its appearance was as pleasing as it was unexpected. The 

 scenery here is fine ; the Killery, a little creek or arm of the 

 sea, runs up to Leenane between two picturesque chains of 

 hills, and travellers usually hire a boat and disport themselves 

 on the water, in order to obtain a better view of these hills. 

 An excellent road has lately been made from Leenane to Clif- 

 den, but the day being very fine, I prolonged the journey by 

 turning off to the left, among the hills, and was repaid by 

 some very pretty scenery. Behind me, or rather, to my left, 

 rose that singular group of hills called the Twelve Pins, and 

 before me, through occasional openings, I frequently saw the 

 sea. There is but little cultivation in these parts ; the bog 

 appears rich, and capable of producing good crops ;, the 

 heaths are luxuriant beyond anything I had ever seen ; the 

 day was very warm and the walking good, the bog being 

 firm and elastic, and in the best possible state for progression. 

 It was evening when I reached the little inn at Clifden. 



The next morning I arrived at Roundstone, a place with 

 which a naturalist must be pleased. On approaching it, an 

 enormous seal {Halichceriis GrypJms), apparently 8 or 9 feet 

 long, and of a light or whitish colour, with a black face, and 

 another, much less and nearly black, were basking in the sun- 

 shine on a rock in the bay. These seals are most abundant 

 all round the coast of Cunnemara, from Galway to the Kil- 

 lery ; indeed I imagine on nearly every part of the coast of 

 Ireland : they are strong, resolute, and ferocious animals, and 

 totally different from the Phoca vitulina, which is, in these 

 respects, the very reverse. Halicharus Gryphus grows oc- 

 casionally to an enormous size, sometimes attaining even the 

 length of 12 feet; and Mr. Ball of Dublin told me of one he 

 had killed at Howth harbour, which he believed to weigh five 

 hundred pounds. Phoca vitulina occurs not unfrequently on 

 the north coast of Ireland and among the Scotch islands, but 

 it appears to be nearly expelled from the southern half of Ire- 



