Notes. 8 1 



been found in Ireland, and which Mr. G. A. Holt informs me is llypnum 

 filicinmn var. vallisclansce, Brid. It was collected b}" the Rev. Canon C. D. 

 Russell, M.A., in a spring out of limestone at the eskers, near the village 

 of Geashill. Mr. Holt writes that he has seen many forms of it in Derby- 

 shire, where he says it is "a plant not uncommon about limestone springs 

 and rivers." Canon Russell found but a small quantit}^ in his locality. 

 It will, doubtless, be discovered in other similar habitats. The appear- 

 ance of the plant is more like an attenuated form of Ranniu7n alofectirum 

 than H. filicimun. — Rev. H. W. Lett, Aghaderg, Co. Down. 



Leucobryuni gclaucuxn. — I found on the slopes of the Slieve Bloom 

 Mountains enormous hassocks of this moss, some of them a yard or more 

 broad, and nearly two feet high, but all obstinately barren. I believe 

 this curious moss was collected in a fertile state near Bantry, Co. Cork, 

 by Miss Hutchins. In structure it is highly interesting, the stem is 

 composed of three layers, first the medulla, in which some of the cells 

 are remarkably large, outside a ring of olive-coloured prosenchymatous, 

 closely-placed cells, and thirdly a cortical layer several cells in thickness, 

 similar to the ground tissue, but longer, narrowing outwards. The leaves 

 are ovate lanceolate, often subulate, with a well-marked membraneous 

 border of single cells, wide at the base, narrowing gradually to the apex ; 

 inclining inwards from the border, and at the base, the leaf becomes 

 several cells thick, showing rectangular cellules with well-marked inter- 

 cellular cavities and pores. This remarkable structure may fulfil in some 

 degree the functions of roots, of which I could find very little trace. On 

 dividing one of these hassocks, the annual growths could be seen from 

 the apex to the decayed base, and as these subside year after year, their 

 growth must have been continued for a long space of time to enable them 

 to attain to such dimensions. — D. McArdle, Glasnevin. 



ANGIOSPERMS. 



The Lesser Burnet, Poterium sanguisorba, L., in the North of 

 IreI/AND. — This plant, newly gathered specimens of which have been 

 submitted for verification to my friend, Mr. S. A. Stewart, has now, for 

 the first time, been satisfactoril}- identified as a North of Ireland species. 

 It occurs in a field at Glenmore, near Lisburn, Co. Antrim, where it 

 grows in two tolerably large patches, a very short distance from each 

 other, and it has not so far been observed in any of the neighbouring 

 fields. The circumstance, however, of the grass of the meadoAv in which 

 it is found being periodically cut before the seeds of the plant are mature, 

 may, very probably, account for its restricted area. The leaflets of the 

 Glenmore plant differ slightly from those of specimens I have seen from 

 English localities, in being more elongated, and in showing less tendency 

 towards being orbicular: otherwise there seems no difference. It has 

 quite a luxuriant growth. 



According to the " Cybele Hibernica " it is "not found in the North of 

 Ireland." Recorded in Dr. Dickie's "Flora of Ulster," on the authority 

 of Dr. Moore, as occurring at Ransh, Rasharkin, Co. Antrim, the name 

 was afterwards corrected by the latter to Sangiiisorba officinalis, and it has, 

 therefore, been excluded by Mr. Stewart from his recently published 

 "Flora of the North-east of Ireland." 



My friend, Mr. J. G. Baker, F.R.S. ("Flora of North Yorkshire"), re- 

 gards P. sanguisoj'ba as a typical limestone species, having a geological 

 distribution similar to that of Neckcra crispa, Fortula torttiosa, and Trichosto- 

 muvi flexicaule amongst the mosses, "often growing plentifully in the d3's- 

 geogenous tracts, but otherwise quite rare." The Glenmore station, 

 however, is singular in that limestone is absent, the underlying strata 

 being of the new red sandstone formation. With this exception, the 

 Irish distribution of the Lesser Burnet confirms what has been stated by 

 Mr. Baker. On the very dry limestone pavements of the Aran Islands, 

 and of Blackhead in Clare, and in Galway it is plentiful. It occurs also 

 in Cork, Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, and Queen's County, all limestone 



