178 NOTES ON IRISH NATURAL HISTORY. 



reus, and laurel, are not to be seen in England ; — the laurels 

 are magnificent. 



From Bray to Luggelaw on Lough Tay, is a wild walk 

 through some fine Wicklow scenery. Lough Tay is a sweet 

 place ; there is such a bold bluff, such a tumultuous multi- 

 tude of rocks stretching out into the lake, that 1 gazed on the 

 scene with nearly as much delight as on any that the island 

 had before afforded. Lough Dan, a few miles further, is beau- 

 tiful, exquisitely beautiful, but its beauty is less bold, its 

 grandeur is not sublime. I found on the banks of Lough 

 Dan, Lomaria spicant, Pteris aquilina, Poly podium vulgar e, 

 Polystichum aculeatum, Lastrcea Filix-mas, Las. dilatata. 

 Las, Oreopteris, Asplenium Adiantum-nigrum, Aspl. Buta- 

 muraria, Aspl. Trichomanes, Scolopendrium vulgare, Os- 

 munda regalis, Isoetes lacustris, and Littorella lacustris. 



Near the little village of Roundwood I saw, in a bog, a 

 profusion of Pinguicula Lusitanica, Malaxis paludosa, and 

 Narthecium ossifragum ; the latter plant, and Anagallis te- 

 nella^ are most abundant on nearly all the Irish bogs. From 

 Roundwood, I bent my course to the Seven Churches of 

 Glendalough, a place which, if one might enjoy it alone, is 

 well worthy of an hour's contemplation ; but alas ! it is s o 

 infested with guides, that one is driven half wild with the 

 clamour. I here had two companions, and 1 think about 

 forty guides followed us with unremitting assiduity ; at last 

 we escaped them and looked back on the stately round tower 

 of Glendalough, fringed at half its height with a belt of Pa- 

 rietaria : on the walls of the churches and ruins I observed 

 the three more common species oi Asplenium, Scolopendrium 

 vulgare, and Ceterach officinarum^ and one roof was half co- 

 vered with Mentha rotundifolia. In the lake we found Lo- 

 belia Dortmanna, LJttorella lacustris, and Isoetes lacustris ; 

 then, turning away from its margin, we made for the wa- 

 terfall ; and here, as I was scrambling over the slippery 

 rocks in search of Hymenophyllum, I lost my footing, and 

 fell plump into the stream ; but luckily, making the descent 

 legs first, I kept myself upright, and affectionately embracing 

 a projecting rock, I maintained my position in spite of the 

 power of the river, and joined heartily in the laugh of one 

 of my companions. This district is full of ferns and mosses ; 

 Ims. Oreopteris, generally so rare in Ireland, here occurs in 

 boundless profusion ; and the varieties oi Las. dilatata, whe- 

 ther flat, convex, or concave, seem absolutely endless : from 

 every crevice in the rocky hills which surround that pic- 

 turesque lake, this fern may be seen waving its bright green 

 fronds. Here and there, as we proceeded, a huge mass of 



