1899- 1 Pkaeger. —A Botanist in the Central Plain. 97 



King's County. On the way Linaria viscida and Erysimum 

 cheiranthoides were noted by the roadside, and Rhynchospora 

 fusca turned up again in abundance. Lough Goura proved to 

 be an extensive and promising swamp, which I waded slowly 

 across, adding many plants to my King's County list, such as 

 Galium uliginosum, Epipactis palustris, Cladium, Utricularia 

 intermedia, Carex limosa, C. fit if or mis, C. strict a. Next day I 

 worked northward along by Shannon Harbour. Arena? ia 

 te?iuifolia grew on the railway line, Rhynchospora fusca on the 

 bogs, Stellaria palustris, Galium uliginosum, Bidens tripartita 

 (new to VIL), Carex Pscudo-cyperus, &c, &c., in the swamps, 

 Eleocharis acicularis and Tolypella glomerata in the canal. The 

 morning of the 27th brought me home again. My impressions 

 of the Shannon valley were very pleasant. The great expanse 

 of country, with a distant rim of hills — the broad slow river 

 with its high fringe of reeds — the rich flat meadows, tinted with 

 Purple and Yellow Loosestrife, and Meadow-Sweet and 

 Meadow-Rue — the great brown bogs, where Curlews and 

 Plovers called incessantly — the grand lake-like expanses of 

 Ree and Derg, with their stony limestone shores decked 

 with rare plants — all combined with cool weather, and 

 summer showers hanging like grey curtains in the bright sky, 

 formed memories that will not be easily effaced. 



On the morning of July 3 I went to Ballybrophy, to finish 

 my survey of Queen's County by walking fifty miles eastward 

 across the southern portion of the county. Passing Rath- 

 downey, Equisctum hyemale was the only uncommon plant 

 observed till I reached the extensive marshes of the Erkina 

 River above Durrow. There I waded and floundered for some 

 time, but with unexpectedly poor results, and the best plant 

 was Trifoli7cm filiforme, found as I sat on the edge of the 

 marshes wringing the water out of my clothes. Passing a 

 mile north of Durrow, FcstucaJMyuros was found growing 

 abundantly on a roadside wall, and a tramp in the dusk 

 brought me to the comfortable inn in the pretty village of 

 Abbeyleix. A pre-prandial stroll next morning revealed 

 Ophrys apife?'a, Filago germanica, and Linaria viscida in the 

 neighbourhood, the last named on railway ballast, as usual. 

 My route on this day lay over the high cultivated Coal- 



