26 The Irish Xatiiralist. February, 



— there is in a limited area inoiiiitain and lowland, rock 

 and lake, limestone and slates, woods and streams. Again, 

 large houses and gardens are frequent, and the introduced 

 flora is varied ; flower-beds adjoin \\\\d rocky ground 

 with a startling proximity ; many of the garden plants 

 have now run riot ; and so the present Killarney flora 

 presents a bewildering tangle of native and alien plants. 

 One would like to know the number of species found 

 within half-a-mile of the Lower Lake ; it must be, for 

 Ireland, a remarkable total. 



From omissions or errors of any kind the book is almost 

 free. One misses the name of West Galway from the 

 note on Bartsia viscosa, which is described as disappearing 

 completely betw'een Kerry and Donegal. " Topog. Bot." 

 does not strike one as a happy contraction for " Irish 

 Topographical Botany," since b}^ any but a Hibernian 

 reader it would be confused Vsith Watson's better known 

 work. Nor do " Bien." for biennial, and " Peren." for 

 perennial appeal to one. Mr. Marshall's Ranunculus is 

 referred to as R. petiolan's, though that name, being already 

 occupied, was soon discarded in favour of R. scoficits. 



The author tells us that he has taken Mr. Colgan's 

 " Flora of the County Dublin " as a model, and so closely 

 has he followed his pattern, as regards not only arrange- 

 ment but paper and type, that when both works are open 

 before one it is impossible to distinguish them except by 

 the context. The " Flora of Kerry " is beautifully printed 

 on thick paper, but typographical errors are rather more 

 frequent than one would expect in a \\ork so carefuU}^ 

 prepared and sumptuously produced. Though dealing 

 with only one count3^ it is more bulky than any of the 

 works dealing with the flora of the whole of Ireland — a 

 distinct disadvantage for the scientific tourist v.'ho wishes 

 to carry it with him on his peregrinations. A thin-paper 

 edition reduced in size so as to allow^ of its being carried 

 in the pocket would be a godsend to the field botanist. 



The appearance of this able and full account of the 

 distribution of the higher plants in Kerry — the most 

 beautiful and most interesting of all the Irish counties — 

 will be welcomed everywhere by botanists. It is fit and 



