NOTILS ON IRISH NATURAL HISTORY. 69 



mas, and Athyrium Filix-foemitia, in the greatest abundance. 



When you approach Killarney you find yourself shut in 

 between enormous stone walls, which totally preclude the 

 possibility of seeing anything of the scenery. These walls 

 occur on all the roads in the neighbourhood, and make them 

 anything but picturesque ; and Killarney itself is a large, dull 

 and dirty town, and one which a traveller w^ould never sus- 

 pect was situated amidst the most celebrated scenery in the 

 British dominions. 



Cloghereen, an hour's walk beyond Killarney, is merely a 

 dozen houses, the best of which is an inn. Almost opposite 

 to the inn is an entrance to the demesne of Muckruss, and 

 the old abbey is within ten minutes' walk. The abbey is a 

 very beautiful object ; it is in excellent preservation, the roof 

 alone being wanting, and the walls are covered with a dra- 

 pery of ferns, among which Scolopendrium vulgare is the 

 most abundant and conspicuous ; it is surrounded by fine fo- 

 rest trees of the most beautiful growth : here also was the 

 Arbutus Unedo growing in a state of nature, mingled with 

 holly and yew, and forming the most beautiful natural shrub- 

 bery I have ever beheld. The rocky ground below was car- 

 peted with mosses, intermixed with the most luxuriant tufts 

 of Scolopendrium vulgare, which here assumes a character 

 I had never before seen ; ten or twenty very long fronds ema- 

 nate from a common centre, and each is bent in a graceful 

 semicircle. Here also Polypodium vulgare grows to an im- 

 mense size, and runs into those luxuriant excesses in which 

 the pinned become again divided, and its normal form is alto- 

 gether lost : and here Hypericum calycinum grows with all 

 the vigour of a native plant, and, if introduced, as some bo- 

 tanists assert, it has made its footing so secure that I much 

 doubt the ability of man to eradicate it. Passing through 

 this little paradise you stand on the bank of Lough Lane, the 

 largest and most beautiful of the lakes of Killarney. A boat, 

 with rowers, steersman, arid bugleman was in waiting, and in 

 a few minutes T was floating over its placid waters, the wood- 

 ed heights of Glena and the purple summit of Tomies rising 

 immediately before md. 



Lough Lane covers an area of 5,000 English acres, and 

 contains twenty-four named islands ; the largest of these, — 

 Koss Island, — contains 150 English acres, and is laid out in 

 a tasty manner by its proprietor. Lord Kenmare, who allows 

 all visitors to land, and wander about its beautiful shrubber- 

 ies jiist as they please. Ross Castle, on this island, is a fine 

 old building covered with ivy, and the visitor is expected to 

 ascend to its summit, from whence the view is very beautiful. 



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