24 The Irish Naturalist. P'ebruary, 



of Simeihis bicolor, he believed, as H. C. Watson did before 

 him, that the plant is not native there. Dr. Scully has 

 no doubt about its being native in Kerry, and botanists 

 who have examined its Irish habitat will be inclined to 

 agree with him. Thalictrum alpinum is included in the 

 flora, although the Brandon record, now thirty years old, 

 has never been confirmed, despite the numerous visits of 

 botanists to that glorious place. Another plant which is 

 admitted, concerning which I cannot but feel very sceptical, 

 is Elisma natans. The record rests on immature plants 

 collected by G. C. Druce in 1885 near Muckross. JNIr. Druce's 

 record {Irish Naturalist, xix., 237) states that Prof. Gliick, 

 the well-known authority on water-plants, unhesitatingly 

 referred the specimens to E. natans. But Prof. Gliick's 

 account of the matter, as I have already had occasion 

 to remark (Irish Naturalist, xxi., 105), is of a different 

 complexion. As a matter of fact, his statement to me 

 was a good deal stronger than what I. published, and makes 

 it quite impossible to include this plant in the Irish flora 

 on the present evidence. A few plants which we are 

 accustomed to look on as indigenous in most of their Irish 

 stations are set down by Dr. Scully as introduced in Kerry 

 — Spergularia rubra, " alien," for instance, and Ononis 

 repens, " denizen." Armaria alpina is excluded, as being 

 doubtfully British ; and the evidence, though recent, is 

 not considered sufficient to justify the inclusion in the 

 Kerry flora of Cardamine amara, Orchis Morio, J uncus 

 irifidus. The Kerry " discoveries " of the notorious W. 

 Andrews, such as Herniaria glabra and Saxifraga Andreze'sii, 

 are treated as they deserve to be. The puzzling Poly- 

 gonum sagittatum is set down as " alien or denizen." I feel 

 no doubt that all these decisions will commend themselves 

 to students of the Kerrv flora. 



The treatment of the critical genera is somewhat unequal. 

 The accounts of Rosa, Hieracium, and Potamogeton are 

 particularly ftill and clear, and indicate industrious and 

 critical collecting and careful diagonsis. Rubus, Euphrasia, 

 Chara, etc., are not awarded such full treatment, and 

 K.ive evidently received less attention in the field. The 

 accounts relating to certain special plants are delightfully 



