1901. Mo^FAT. — Irish Topographical Botany. 151 



logical consequences, and it is also evident that his forty areas, 

 as numbered by himself, would not lend themselves to any plan 

 of compact grouping. 



Coming to the details of the county records, it is important 

 to note the author's caution that these " cannot be understood 

 without a knowledge of the explanatory portion of the Intro- 

 duction " It would, indeed, be very easy for an} r one making 

 a hasty effort at using the book to be seriously misled. Thus, 

 Mr. Praeger quotes, by preference, the latest records of the 

 findings of a plant ; so that anyone consulting his book in 

 ignorance of this rule might be led into supposing that Naias 

 flexilis was unknown in Ireland until 1896, the records being 

 as follows : — 



1. Kerry, S — Glencar, '99. —Scully. Lough Caragh, '96.— Scully, 



Cyb. II. 



2. Kerry, N.— Killaruey, '99; south only, very rare.— Scully. 

 16 Galway, W.— Lough Cregduff, '96.— P. 



Of course, students of Cybele are well aware that the first 

 discovery of this plant in the British Isles was in its West 

 Galway station in 1850, and that it was found in South Kerry 

 in 1876, and in North Kerry in 1885. The records quoted 

 above therefore illustrate a contrast between the plan of Cybele 

 Hibemica, in which the historical element is conspicuous, and 

 that of the present work, in which it is altogether ignored. 1 

 Another rule stated in the Introduction is as follows : — 



"The use of the words 'rare,' 'frequent,' &c, invariably 

 implies the existence of records additional to those which are 

 given. Conversely, the absence of such words may be 

 taken to imply that no stations are known to the compiler 

 beyond those which are quoted." This is a highly ingenious 

 method of giving condensed information ; but to those attempt- 

 ing to use the work without a preliminary study of the 

 Introduction, it will prove a veritable pitfall. 



The county records are in themselves surprisingly full, the 

 small county of Monaghan being the only one whose ascertained 

 flora still falls short of 500 species. It is impossible here to 

 avoid expressing our sense of the immense debt of gratitude 

 which Irish botanists owe to Mr. Praeger for the almost 



1 Perhaps it would have been a good rule to select, instead of the latest 

 record, the most central locality known in each divisiop, thus indicating 

 the uniformity of a plant's distribution. 



A 2 



