1^4 • The Irish Naturalist. 



"Changes of nomenclature;are, uuf9rtuiiately, again numerous" writes 

 the Editor, and, as he remarks, it could hardly have been otherwise, 

 considering that these changes represent the result of nine years critical 

 study of questions of priority and validity. Some of the changes now 

 introduced will be no doubt startling to those who have become used to 

 the nomenclature of the eighth Edition, and have not followed the sub- 

 sequent alterations as proved necessary in papers in Wx^Joicrnal of Botany 

 and elsewhere. Castalia speciosa, Schollera oxy coccus, and Borctta cantabrica, 

 for instance, will sound unfamiliar to most of our readers. Among 

 changes in generic names Neckeria replaces Corydalis, Bursa replaces 

 Capsdla, Buda replaces Lepigonum, Pncumaria replaces Mertensia, and the 

 formidable names of Homaloccnchrus and Wcingccrtneria replace Leersia and 

 Corynephorus, A number of old specific names also have disappeared. 



Not the least important part of the Catalogue is the modest numbers 

 which follow the specific names and in many cases the varieties, showing 

 the number of vice-counties of England, Wales, and Scotland, in which 

 the plant is known to grow, and forming an index of its frequency. 

 Irish distribution plays no part in this census. Ireland is, in fact, placed 

 on the same footing as the Channel Islands ! Where a species occurs in 

 either of these areas only— not in Great Britain— this is shown by the 

 letter" I" or " C." For Irish botanists this is, of course, unsatisfactory, 

 since neither here nor elsewhere have they any key to the county 

 distribution of the greater part of their flora, and even the publication of 

 the second edition of Cybcle Hibernica, so grievously checked by the 

 lamented death of Mr. More, will supply this for only the rarer Irish 

 plants ; but a few years of combined and steady work should go far to 

 supply materials for an Irish " Topographical Botany," and bring our 

 knowledge of plant-distribution in Ireland more on a level with that ol 

 the sister island. R.Lly.P- 



NOTES 



BOTANY. 

 MOSSES, 

 Ephemcrum seri*atuin, Hatnpe., In County Antrim.— The 



only recorded localities in County Antrim for this minute annual moss 

 are in the neighbourhood of Belfast and Lisburn, where it was first 

 noticed by Templeton in 1801, and again in 1805, one of the localities 

 given under the former date being "in a field near Lambeg Moss." 

 Subsequently Drummond gathered it also in ''fields now occupied by 

 the Botanic Gardens," vide " Flora of the North East of Ireland." Since 

 that time so far as I am aware there is no record of the plant having been 

 observed in the district. Mr. S. A. Stewart and other biologists have 

 made diligent search for it, season after season, for many years, but have 

 never met with it. Its occurrence in a light sandy field at Glenmore, 

 near Lisburn, where it has just now been found, may, therefore, be 

 noteworthy, and its re-discovery so near Templeton's original localities 

 after the lapse of ninety-four years may be considered interesting. There 

 seems to be no reason why this species should not be found in other 

 parts of the county, but so far it has escaped detection. In County Derry 

 it has not been met with, and for the County Down Mr. Stewart 

 mentions only one locality. 



John H. Davies, Lisburn. 



