20 NOTES ON IRISH NATURAL HISTORY. 



most diligently in Cunnemara, yet I never detected a single 

 frond of either of them in the latter district. Lastr(Ba Ore- 

 opteris ; although I traversed large districts such as this fern 

 usually delights in, yet I found it not. I suppose the climate 

 is too warm for these three ferns, and that they may possibly 

 occur at a greater elevation : but I should say that Polypo- 

 dium Dryopteris is exceedingly rare in Ireland, and with the 

 exception of two fronds gathered by Mr. Moore on Knocklayd, 

 Co. Antrim, I have neither seen nor heard of a single speci- 

 men. Osmunda seems to have completely taken the place 

 of Pleris, and Filix-faemma of Filix-mafi. 



It was with regret that I left Galway without having visit- 

 ed the South Isles of Arran, but the lame leg was in the way, 

 and moreover I was told it would be difficult to get away 

 from them with the violent wind that was blowing off shore ; 

 and much as I wished to see them, especially An-anmore, 

 where Adiantum Capillus- Veneris is found in such profusion, 

 I was compelled to give it up, and to patronise Bianconi. — 

 And really, after all, it is a great comfort that you never can 

 find yourself in any considerable town, without finding also 

 one of Bianconi's cars ready to transport you elsewhere as 

 soon as you please. As I was jolting along the bank of Gal- 

 way Bay, the clouds were driven headlong to seaward, and 

 the sun birrst forth with bright but watery splendour. I 

 gazed on the Isles of Arran, as they rose clearly from the sea 

 against the blue horizon, and even then I was half tempted to 

 turn back, but having passed Oranmore, the sea was lost, and 

 I turned my thoughts inland. The country now assumed a 

 very different aspect ; it appeared bleak, but was generally 

 cultivated, and lets at fifteen or sixteen shillings per Irish 

 acre. Close to the town of Galway the little paddocks for 

 cattle let at £4. and £6. per Irish acre. Loughrea is a mi- 

 serable place ; whole streets of houses are without roofs, and 

 I felt tempted to enquire w^hether the plague or cholera had 

 stripped them of their inhabitants. Passing the little village 

 of Aughrim, where the decisive battle was fought between 

 James and William, I reached the important and thriving 

 town of Ballinasloe. There I got on board a boat just start- 

 ing by the canal for Shannon Harbour ; it was drawn by three 

 horses, a boy was on the first, and another on the third, and 

 they set off at full gallop, the whips cracking, and the boys 

 vociferating in the choicest Irish. 



At Shannon Harbour I stayed a night, and then went on 

 board a steam-boat going down to Limerick ; it is a tedious 

 passage. The steam-boat which took us to Portumna was 

 a funny concern ; the funnel, boiler, pistons, &c., amidships, 



