i6o The Irish Naturalist . October, 



officiiiarum. Three others, though local and scarce, retain 

 their hold in undiminished strength in the few stations 

 to which they are restricted. These are Hypericum per- 

 foratum (found chiefly near lime-kilns), Leontodon hispidns, 

 and Spiranthes autumnalis. 



The above are, I think, the only plants we have 

 left (exclusive of cornfield or waste-ground casuals) that 

 are certified as limestone-lovers in Cyhele Hihernica, and 

 that have not suffered from last winter's severity. I must, 

 however, mention one further species, whose calcicole 

 proclivities (duly recognised in Irish Topographical 

 Botany) have not interfered with its survival in the very 

 few settlements it has effected in this neighbourhood. I 

 refer to Rubus discolor, the Bramble so universally prevalent 

 about Dublin, and often supposed to be common every- 

 where, but in the district round Ballyhyland so exclusively 

 confined to a few " suspicious " localities that no one could 

 possibly claim it as a truly native plant. Except in the 

 outskirts of the town of Enniscorthy, I know only four 

 spots where it grows, each being close to a cottage, on ground 

 where it is probable that lime may at some time have been 

 thrown. Near one of these settlements the calcicoles 

 Poterium Sanguisorha and Convolvulus arvensis (otherwise 

 nearly unknown here) once flourished as prosperous colo- 

 nists ; but both soon died out. The sturdier Rubus discolor 

 contrives in each spot just to hold its own, neither decreasing 

 nor spreading, over a space of some four or five yards in 

 length. It is evident that the late winter did this plant 

 no harm. 



I hope these notes may serve to direct attention to the 

 question whether any similar process to that under notice 

 here has been observed elsewhere in Ireland, and whether, 

 if so, there has been any marked difference in its effects in 

 different parts of the country, especially in connection 

 with the difference between limestone-loving and limestone- 

 avoiding plants. In the near future, the spread of tillage 

 must add to the difficulty of determining from what causes 

 various members of our flora have tended to disappear 



Ballyhyland, Enniscorthy. 



