t2 The Irish A^aturalisf, January, 



BRVOLOGICAI. NOTES FROM COUNTIES DOWN 



AND LOUTH. 



BY J. li. DAVIKS. 



In the expectation that the names and localities of some 

 mosses which have come nnder observation during recent 

 months, will not be without interest to Irish bryophilists, the}' 

 are hereto subjoined. A few of them, by reason of their rarity 

 in Ireland, and other considerations, seem to merit special 

 mention. Of those from County Down, one of the most inte- 

 resting (taking them in order of classification) is Ditrichwn 

 tcniiifolinvi, which had been met with in Ireland only once 

 before, and that so long ago as 1830, when it w^as discovered 

 by T. Drummond at Belfast, that being the first notice of its 

 occurrence in the British Isles. The plant, which may easily 

 be overlooked, has not since been seen there. At Lenaderg, 

 where it has now been found, only very little of it could be 

 detected, but having been once recognized in the field, it may 

 be expected that on further close scrutiny more will be 

 revealed. 



The finding of Fissidens cnusipcs in the River Bann is also 

 not without interest, inasmucli as this seems to be the only 

 definite Irish locality for this pretty aquatic Fissidens. Pre- 

 viously its only claim for admission to the Irish list appears to 

 rest on a note in Dr. Braithwaite's British Moss Flora (vol i. 

 p. 71), "Ireland (Turner 1S09),' without indication of any 

 sj^ecial locality ; and no mention of the moss can be found in 

 Irish botanical writings. 



Another species, singularly rare in Ireland, is Aulacomniiun 

 androgymuH, which it was exceedingly gratifying to meet with 

 in the valley of the Bann. Once before the moss was found in 

 County Down by Drummond, as mentioned by Templeton, 

 but since its name is not recorded in Moore's Synopsis it was 

 not admitted in the Flo) a af the North-east of Ireland. 



In the near neighbourhood was gathered a little Fhilonotis, 

 slender, with bright red stems, and leaves of vivid green, 

 narrowly lanceolate-subulate, which can be referred only to 

 P. capillaris — a moss which has not been reported as Irish — 

 bui being without male inflorescence, which affords a mark 



