34 The Irish Naturalist. February, 



at once, growing along the rough stony shores amid a tangle 

 of Meadow-sweet, Purple Loosestrife, and similar plants. 

 I examined the island carefully. The Globe-flower grows at 

 intervals right round its one mile of shore, being abundant at 

 the western end, rare at the eastern. It forms a belt just 

 above storm-level, where it gets shade from the trees. The 

 flora of the island is strictly indigenous, and clearly it has 

 never been cultivated or planted. Oak, Holly, Alder and 

 other native species constitute the dense arboreal vegetation. 

 Luzula maxima almost monopolizes the drier ground under 

 the trees. Not a single non-native species occurs, and it 

 would be an absurdity to question the plant's being truly 

 native here. I returned to Garrison well satisfied, presented 

 mine host with a root of Trollius for his garden, and cycled 

 round the southern side of the lake, where I made a 

 desperate attempt to discover the Globe-flower on the shrubby 

 lake-shore, and so add it to the flora of L,eitrim and of 

 District IX. But it was not to be found, and remounting I 

 next halted in Co. Sligo, among the bogs that lie between 

 Cliffony and the gaunt limestone mountains. A couple of 

 hours spent here added Rhynchospora fusca, Car ex limosa and 

 other bog plants to the Sligo list. Thence to Mullaghmore, 

 where some botanizing was done among the sand-dunes, and 

 then back to Belleek via Bundoran and Ballyshannon. At 

 Belleek station in the evening Crepis ta?axacifolia was 

 noticed growing in a rock-cutting, an addition to the flora 

 of District X., and here far north of its recorded limit. 



On July i st I went west, finding that the little-known 

 eastern portion of Galway (Divisions 15 and 17) needed 

 further exploration. North-east Galway — perhaps the least 

 known botanically of all the Irish divisions — consists of an 

 unbroken stretch of low- lying and frequently bog-covered 

 limestone. The geological maps showed that on the extreme 

 northern boundary alone might one hope to find a flora not 

 dominated by the calcareous rocks. Accordingly, I cycled 

 west from Milltown, and behind Dunmore found a range of 

 bare brown stone- strewn hills of Old Red Sandstone, and was 

 rewarded by a good calcifuge flora, including Graphalium 

 sylvaticum, Chrysanthemum segetu?n, Rapha?ius Raphanistrum, 

 Spergula, and Digitalis. Galium uligi?wsum was a less 

 expected find. On the 3rd I spent a long day in E)ast Mayo, 



