40 The Irish Naturalist. February, 



viariti))ia grtw on the railway here, five miles from the sea. 

 The form of Juncus cffusus with spreading stems occurs all 

 over the district. 



There are low^ sand-dunes just north of Doonbeg, and exten- 

 sive ones a couple of miles to the north-east. Viola lutea 

 and Aspcrula cyiianchica are abundant on both, and Eryngium 

 maritiimim and Convolvulus Soldanclla occur more sparingly 

 on the latter. All these are local or rare in Clare. 



* 



The cliffs, on account of the horizontal stratification of the 

 rocks and their rapid denudation, are vertical or even over- 

 hanging, almost devoid of vegetation, and in appearance verj- 

 black, bare and forbidding. 



An inlet of the Shannon approaches from the east to within 

 two miles of the Atlantic at Kilkee. The peninsula thus cut 

 off runs down south-westward for sixteen miles to lyoop Head, 

 presenting to the ocean an almost unbroken wall of cliffs, 

 with softer lines on the river side. This is an extremely wind- 

 swept region, formed of bleak undulations of Coal-measure 

 shales. The ground is occupied by rushy pasture or b}^ poor 

 meadow land, brilliant with Ragweed and Purple I^oosestrife. 

 The vegetation above the cliffs is closely shorn. Aster Tripo- 

 liuvi and Glaux maritima grow by the roadside a qtiarter of a 

 mile inland, at 300 feet elevation. Asplcniuui viarimirn was 

 seen on rocks in a little glen the same distance from the sea. 

 Loop Head is surrounded by cliffs 150-200 feet high. The 

 ground above the western cliffs^ up to the light-hotise (233 

 feet), over many acres is covered with a close smooth sward of 

 Armeria viaritima — pure except for a little Glaux viaritiina, 

 Plantago inaritivia. P. Co?'onop2cs, and Festuca ovina. Elsewhere 

 good Plantago sward is developed in places, and higher up 

 shorn Calluna heath comes in. On spray-swept stony slopes 

 Suceda viarilima grows 100 feet above the sea, with the three 

 Spergularias, Staticc occidentalis and Cochlearia danica. 



Of miscellaneous plants noted in this district I may men- 

 tion— ^///z<^^ officinalis (near houses) and Myosotis rcpens 

 (frequent) ; Sagina subulata south of Kilkee ; Brassica nigra 

 and funcus diffusus at Cross and Carrigahoit ; and Dipsaais 

 sylvestris on the beach at Rinevella Bay. The majority of 

 these are on record previously from the northern part of 

 Clare only — mostly from the Burren area. 



