lio The Irish Nahcralisi. June, 



that the flora of the British Islands is due to chance intro- 

 ductions of seeds from the continent during thousands of 

 years. He acknowledges that there have been oscillations 

 of level since the Glacial Epoch. He even admits the 

 existence of a land-connection of England with France, 

 but Ireland remained for ever isolated. And of all the 

 evidences in favour of this extraordinary theory, Mr. Reid 

 quotes the one which tells most strongly against his views — 

 namely, the Pyrenean element in our flora. He quite 

 forgets that this element is accompanied by a corresponding 

 fauna. Mr. Reid claims that only plants with small seeds 

 have been able to cross to Cornwall and Ireland from the 

 Continent, those with large seeds being left behind. The 

 sea is not spoken of by Mr. Reid as a transporting agent, 

 presumably because the large seeds ought then to have 

 had a chance to get across. He relies on birds driven b}^ 

 exceptional gales having done the work, also on herds of 

 migrating Bison, Deer and Horses, packs of Wolves, Foxes 

 and Cats. Bison never lived in Ireland. Perhaps they were 

 afraid to trust their lives to the Irish Sea. The rest of the 

 mammals must have boldly swum across, if we are to 

 believe Mr. Reid's theory to be true, and have deposited their 

 loads of seeds safely on the shores of Ireland. 



The mammals being unable to gather their supply of 

 Lusitanian seeds in England, the task of transporting them 

 must have fallen entirely on the migrating birds. Now 

 what are the birds Mr. Reid had in his mind that are driven 

 by gales directly from Spain or Ihe Pyrenees across the 

 sea to the west of Ireland ? And if there are such birds, 

 what evidence do we possess of their having carried Lusi- 

 tanian seeds in their plumage or crops ? The only careful 

 examination made of birds alighting in a country im- 

 mediately after a migratory flight across the sea, revealed 

 the fact that they had no seeds adhering to them and that 

 their crops were empty. Is there any Irish botanist more- 

 over w^ho concurs with Mr. Reid in the opinion that the 

 Lusitanian plants in most places are spreading vigorously 

 from certain definite centres to which chance has trans- 

 ported a seed ? 



