February, 1917. The Irish Naturalist. 21 



ARBUTI CORONA. 



" All authorities appear to be in agreement as to the great antiquity 

 of both these groui3s [the Lusitanian and American species of the Irish 

 flora]. Prof. Forbes, indeed, considered that the Lusitanian was the 

 oldest element in our present flora. It probably reached Kerry along 

 a coast-line which was continuous from Spain to Ireland." — R. W. 

 Scully : " Flora of Kerry," p. xl., 1916. 



" The three southern sub-floras of Forbes [including the Lusitanian], 

 in place of being the oldest as he supposed, we now know must have 

 been the most recent ; and it is now very doubtful to what extent they 

 migrated over continental land now submerged, as he supposed, or were 

 not rather carried by birds, currents, and other natural agencies." — 

 Prof. W. H. Herdman : " Life and Work of Edward Forbes," in Proc. 

 and Trans. Liverpool Biol. Soc, vol. xxx., p. 72, 1915-16. 



The County of Kerry is, as Mr. Southern has very 

 properly remarked in the last number of this Journal, 

 the Mecca of the student of geographical distribution in 

 Ireland ; and its biological interest centres on the group 

 of Pyrenean plants and animals for which that area is 

 famous. I was under the impression that, excepting the 

 vigorous opinions of the late Mr. Clement Reid- -whose 

 recent death Irish naturalists join with their English 

 brethren in deploring — a fair amount of unanimity had 

 been reached as to the great relative age of these organisms 

 as immigrants to Ireland ; but two passages, recently 

 written, which are quoted above, show that the lion is not 

 yet prepared to lie down with the lamb. One cannot 

 but feel surprise at the confidence with which Prof. 

 Herdman announces that " we now know " that the 

 Lusitanian plants are among the most recent arrivals in 

 the countr}/, and one wonders who is included in the " we " 

 — certainly not one of tlie Irish biologists who have made a 

 special stud}^ of this group and of the question of its 

 origin. One of the many interesting features of Dr. 

 Scully's recently issued " Flora of Kerry "^ is his con- 

 clusions regarding many of these plants, which he has 



1 " Flora of County Kerry, including the Flowering Plants, Ferns, 

 Characeae, &c." By Reginald W. Scully, F.L.S. With six plates 

 and a map. Dublin : Hodges, Figgis & f o , Ltd. 1916. 8vo. pp. 

 Ixxxii + 406. I2S. 6d. net. 



