44 The h ish Naturalist. February, 



Next morning the beautiful view of lake and mountain 

 brought the party out early on the terrace, and after break- 

 fast we drove to Derrycunihy, where the glorious native 

 woods filled with Arbutus, Saxifrages and Hymenophyllums 

 raised the foreign visitors to a wonderful pitch of enthu- 

 siasm. Many hours were spent here discussing the vegetation, 

 collecting and photographing ; in the afternoon boats were 

 waiting to row us back to Killarney. Interesting plants were 

 seen on the way, including great beds of Pilularia in the 

 Long Range, and an unknown pondweed. The opportunity 

 was taken to land on one of the limestone islets and list its 

 flora, which included Arbutus and a beautiful bright yellow 

 form of Orohanche Hederae. 



On Saturday an early train brought us into Cork before 

 10 a.m., and by ii.o we were fraternizing with Mr. R. H. 

 Beamish, whose splendid collection of plants is now famous. 

 Here our visitors saw the possibilities of the Irish climate 

 as regards the open-air cultivation of warm -temperate 

 plants, and many of the specimens flourishing here were 

 viewed with genuine astonishment. After Mr. and Mrs. 

 Beamish had hospitably entertained the party, another 

 hour was spent in the gardens ; then train was taken back 

 to Cork and half -an -hour later the steamer left for Plymouth, 

 where the party spent several interesting days in Cornwall 

 before the Portsmouth meeting of the British Association. 



Without doubt the International Phy to-geographical Ex- 

 cursion of 19 1 1 was a great success. To our foreign visitors 

 it supplied a comprehensive view, under skilled guidance^ 

 of the most important insular areas of western Europe. 

 To us in the British Isles the interchange of views re- 

 garding the different vegetation-types and the factors that 

 control them was of very high importance ; and to both 

 foreigners and Britishers the making of new friendships and 

 the cementing of old ones among a group of men drawn 

 together from many lands by common scientific interests was 

 in a high degree both pleasant and profitable. The keenness 

 of our foreign brethren lent a new interest to every well- 

 known vegetation -type and every ecological problem, and 

 the railway journeys were beguiled with illuminating 

 discussion of the many questions which confront the 

 phytogeographer in every country. 



