150 The Irish Naturalist. August, 



that book. 1 For instance, the nomenclature adopted in Cybcle 

 is followed absolutely, and the arrangement of genera and 

 species is nearly the same in both books. The author rightly 

 remarks that agreement in these matters is highly convenient 

 in facilitating reference from one book to another, and he has, 

 therefore, followed Messrs. Colgau and Scully at the cost of 

 some suppression of personal views. 



This sacrifice, however, brings into stronger relief the salient 

 feature which renders the use of Mr. Praeger's book as a com- 

 panion volume to Cybcle strangely difficult : that is to say, the 

 sub-division of Ireland into areas which are not always sub- 

 divisions of the Districts of Cybcle^ and whose numbering is 

 entirely independent of the numbering of those Districts. For 

 instance, Mr. Praeger's division 4 (Mid-Cork) lies partly in 

 District I. and partly in District II. of Cybcle. The two 

 counties which form District IV. are numbered by Mr. 

 Praeger 12 and 20, and the two which form District VIII. figure 

 as 16 and 27. Thus it is by no means easy to bear in mind 

 what numbers in "Irish Topographical Botany" correspond 

 to given numbers in Cybele, and this is a serious impediment 

 to those who wish to see how far the range of a plant 

 as stated in the earlier volume is supplemented by the 

 information given in the more recent one. This feature is 

 hardly in keeping with the character of a companion 

 volume. Mr. Praeger, in anticipation of criticism on 

 this score, says in his Introduction that " The advantages 

 of grouping the divisions under the twelve botanical 

 districts employed in Cybele are slight in comparison 

 with the suggestive facts of plant- distribution brought out by 

 the adoption of a regular progress from a lower to a higher 

 latitude, from a higher to a lower temperature." There is truth 

 and force in this ; but one cannot help seeing that at bottom 

 it is an argument in favour of a further scheme which may 

 combine both the advantages in question ; in other words, 

 it is an argument for abolishing the twelve Districts of Cybcle 

 Hibernica in favour of others corresponding more nearly 

 with Mr. Praeger's sub-districts. The Cybcle Districts, how- 

 ever, have been so long in use that great inconvenience would 

 attend the carrying of Mr. Praegers system of division to its 



1 Irish Naturalist, vii., pp. 273-85. 



