$2 The Irish Naturalist. March,. 1923. 



of record. He also asks — " How do they occur ? Are they sporadic 

 (a few plants here and there among a much larger number of the normal 

 colouration), or are they locally abuvdarJ (a large number of plants 

 together in certain special localities) ? And, if the latter is the case, 

 what is the nature (elevation, soil, &c.) of these localities ? Also is there 

 any noticeable increase in the number of such localities as one proceeds 

 westward ? (Such is the case in Britain, reaching a climax in Cornwall, 

 Pembrokeshire, &c.)." I have been able to give Mr. Christy very httle 

 definite information, as, though often found, I never took notes of these 

 forms. Perhaps some of the readers of the Irish Naturalist can help. 



R. Lloyd Praeger. 

 Dublin. 



Erica stricta in Antrim and Derry. 



At a Dublin flower shoAv two 3'ears ago I was told by the representative 

 of the Donard Nursery, Newcastle, Co. Down, that they had recently 

 received cuttings of a supposed hybrid heath which had been found near 

 the Sallagh Braes, above Larne. The head of the firm, Mr. Coey, had 

 noticed the heath in a Larne garden, and on enquiry had been told that 

 its origin was as mentioned above. Recently I received a young plant 

 of it from the nursery, by the kindness of Col. Berry, and it turns out 

 to be typical Erica stricta Don, a plant of Southern Europe, well known 

 in gardens. I should have been inclined to attribute the record to an 

 error due to a confusion of labelling in the Larne garden were it not that 

 Miss Leebody has sent a specimen of a heath found by her (one clump) 

 at Downhill in Co. Derry last September which, though not so characteristic 

 in growth, Miss Knowles and I agree in referring also to E. stricta. 



The discovery of a second station for the plant might be held to 

 strengthen greatly the case for its being native here, and, of course, the 

 most remarkable feature in the Irish flora is the occurrence of a number 

 of South European species. But these plants are characteristic of the 

 milder parts of Ireland, not of the North-east, where southern species 

 reach their Irish minimum, and northern species their maximum. Besides 

 we have no evidence at present of the occurrence of more than a single 

 plant in each station, although heaths are mostly distinctly gregarious 

 in their distribution. I think we must look on the plant as an extremely 

 doubtful addition to our flora : it seems to me most probable that some 

 person has been trjdng his hand at naturalisation — a thing unworthy of 

 any trye naturalist, especially if he fails to mitigate his falsification of 

 nature's record by publishing the facts. 



R. Lloyd Praeger. 

 Dublin. 



I 



