19 1 7- Praeger — Arhuti Corona. 25 



good ; of Arbutus, for example, and Polygonum sagittatum, 

 and particularly of Saxifvaga umbrosa and 5. Geum, as 

 already mentioned. The more technical information is 

 enlivened with quaint and well chosen extracts from the 

 older writers on the Kerry flora, and the author's love 

 of nature and of beauty often shines through his account 

 of the plants and their habitats. Who will quarrel with him 

 for regarding Pinguicula grandiflora as the most beautiful 

 member of the Irish flora ? 



At the same time one cannot help thinking that the 

 book is a little bit — dare w^e use the word ? — old-fashioned 

 in its treatment of the flora in its wider sense. The descrip- 

 tion of the topography of the county — so intimately 

 associated with its vegetation — is somewhat mechanical. 

 Only slight attempts are made to look at the vegetation 

 or its constituent parts from the point of view of plant 

 geography or ecology. The subject of regional floras is 

 but w^eakly developed. No discussion is supplied, for 

 instance, of the flora of any of the islands lying off the 

 Kerry coast — not even of the Blaskets, which are of 

 peculiar interest as forming the most westerly land in 

 Europe ; yet the flora of at least the main island of the 

 group is thoroughly known and presents interesting features. 

 Neither does one find any account of the vegetation of 

 the fascinating native woods w^hich are so marked a 

 feature of many of the Kerry valleys, and which at 

 Killarney are of such special importance. But never- 

 theless the topographical part of the book is better done 

 than in the case of many local floras of recent date. The 

 map which — excepting the inartistic but useful plates of 

 Saxifrage leaf-forms — forms the sole illustration in the 

 volume is small and inadequate, and a large number of 

 the places mentioned in the text are not entered upon 

 it. The inclusion of an orographical and a geological 

 map would have greatly assisted the reader in understand- 

 ing the features and problems of Kerry botany. 



The point which comes out clearest from a study of 

 the distribution of the Kerry plants strikes me as being 

 the extraordinary richness and intricacy of the flora of 

 Killarney. Here favourable and varied conditions prevail 



