16 DUBLIN UNIVERSITY 



other part, save the counties of Antrim and Down, where it is rare, nor 

 am I aware of its being noticed elsewhere by others. I also observed 

 what I took to be a variety of Orchis latifolia, with narrow leaves and 

 white flowers, growing in the wettest parts of the bogs. Of this I 

 picked seven plants, all of which had white flowers, but could not find 

 one having the usual pink colour. The sides of the mountain were 

 covered with soft, spongy herbage, composed of Sphagni, a few of the 

 coarsest Cyperaceae, and grasses. On reaching the narrow ridge which 

 rises gradually to the summit, the surface became hard and stony, with 

 very little rank vegetation. This being the kind of ground favourable 

 for the growth of many of the rarer mountain plants, I fully expected 

 something good would turn up, but was disappointed. In Scotland and 

 "Wales a similar surface at such an elevation would produce a large por- 

 tion of the rare Alpine plants, though such was not the case here, Salix 

 herbacea being the only Alpine type I met with. In place of those, large 

 quantities of Saxifraga umbrosa, with Armaria vulgaris, and some few 

 plants of Arbutus uva-ursi, were the principal kinds. The ridge I mention 

 divides the south and western sides of the mountain, which face the sea, 

 from the north and eastern sides. The sea-facing sides, which must be 

 exposed occasionally to terrific gales of wind, blowing directly on them 

 from the Atlantic, produced few plants of importance ; but the more 

 sheltered side was covered with large masses of Saxifraga umbrosa, Vac- 

 cinium vitis-idcea, Hymenophyllum unilaterale, Jungemannia juniperina, 

 and Jungemannia Taylori. On pulling a handful of the last, it contained 

 two plants of the pretty little Orchid, Listera cordata, more of which I 

 observed as I descended the mountain. Other of the higher peaks of 

 this range were visited with similar results; and having on a pre- 

 vious excursion ascended Nephin Mountain, which is the highest in the 

 district, and may be considered a continuation of this range, I am now 

 pretty well aware of the kinds of plants which are produced in this ex- 

 treme north-west portion of Ireland. I fully expected to have found 

 some rare mosses and lichens, which was not the case ; Gyrophora erosa 

 is the scarcest species of the latter I observed. 



One of my principal objects being to obtain plants of the dwarf- 

 growing, deep pink- coloured heath, which is so intermediate with the 

 two kinds generally considered specifically distinct, namely, Erica carnea 

 (Linnaeus), and E. Mediterranea (Willdenow), I went to Gresallagh, in 

 Blacksod Bay, where I collected it some years ago, and where I found 



