I62 



The Irish Nahiralist. 



September, 



Of the 162 species listed by Mr. Barrington from the 

 Great Blasket/ 8 were not seen by me. These were : — 



Lychnis Githago. — " Among corn ; a colonist." Seems absent now — 

 probably on account of the use of purer seed for sowing. This plant is 

 maintained only by frequent re-introduction with cereal seeds. 



Stellaria graminea. — " Rare ; only in one spot." Not seen. 



Rubus discolor. — " Species supposed to be R. discolor, but not determined 

 satisfactorily." The only bramble on the island is R. pulcherrimus 

 Neum. 



Lapsana communis. — " Only near houses." Not seen. 



Veronica serpyllifolia. — " Looks native." Not seen. 



Scirpus setaceus. — " Frequent." S. Savii alone found. 



Carex disticha. — "Only on the highest portion of the Great Blasket." 

 See remark under C. arenaria, p. i6o. 



Bromus mollis. — " Rare, and possibly introduced." Not seen. 



Of these, I think it will be safe to withdraw three, 

 namely Lychnis Githago, Rubus discolor, and Carex disticha, 

 for the present from the Blasket list. 



To arrive at a total for the flora of the Blaskets, we must 

 add to Mr. Barrington's list the extra species which I have 

 enumerated, and subtract the three plants just referred to. 

 This will give us a total of 208 for the Great Blasket, and 

 216 for the whole group of islands. 



This is an extraordinarily small total, and is accounted 

 for, as I said before, by the character of the surface, which 

 results in an absence of shelter and of wet ground. If 

 we take the Great Blasket, we may compare it with the 

 Irish islands most nearly approaching it in size, as 

 follows : — 



1 Including three {P<)lyQ,ala deprcssa, Plantago maritima, and Aspleniur,i 

 mannum) which are recorded with doubt. 



