226 The Irish Naturalist. (.October, 



it plentiful at Saintfield" (I.N., p. 142, supra). But the 

 standing of P. nemoralis as an indigenous Irish plant has not 

 been doubted, although, considering its habitats, it seems to 

 me that it is much more likely to have been introduced by 

 human agency than is P. comprcssa. 



One may not at all times be conscious of the bias which is 

 inseparable from " botanical patriotism, an amiable but per- 

 nicious weakness." Yet with this consideration in mind, and 

 with some regard for scientific exactness, nothing, so far as 

 appears to me, can be discovered to lend support to the view 

 that P. comprcssa is not indigenous in Ireland. To my mind 

 it is as truly native as is any other Irish Poa. 



J. H. Davies. 

 Lisburn. 



The absence of sufficient evidence that Poa comprcssa existed 

 in considerable quantity in any of its Irish stations when the 

 2nd ed. of Cybclc went to press induced us to remove the 

 plant to the appendix. Mr. Stewart informed us that he 

 found it but sparingly in its chief station, the old walls of 

 Derry, in 1888, and we had no means of judging whether it 

 had appeared more than casually in its stations for Districts 

 X. and XII. However, the fresh evidence supplied by Mr. 

 Davies in the foregoing valuable note, in our opinion, warrants 

 the re-admission of the plant to the Irish flora. Whether it is 

 to take rank there as an indigenous species, we should prefer 

 to leave an open question, while admitting that our statement, 

 "introduced in all of its stations," should have been qualified 

 in some way. Mr. Davies has courteously allowed us to read 

 his MS., and to append these few lines of comment. 



Nathaniel Colgan. 

 Reginald W. Scully. 



