20 The Irish Naturalist. January, 



lingered on in ^vild and remote parts of the country, especially in the 

 south-west. The editors of Cybele Hibeniica (2nd edition) place the Scotch 

 Fir in the " Appendix " to their work, amongst the excluded species, and 

 write with reference to this sul)ject : " There can be no doubt that the 

 Scotch Fir was formerly native and abundant in Ireland. Its roots and 

 trunks were frequently dug up from the bogs. . . . The absence both 

 from the spoken language and from the place-names of Ireland of any 

 native name for the tree would tend to prove that it had become quite 

 rare if not extinct in very early times. Whether the records given above 

 refer to relics of a former abundance, or merely to introductions, must 

 remain doubtful ; but there is no reason to believe that any indigenous 

 vScotch Fir now exists in Ireland.'' It must be remembered also that pine 

 feeders are extremely conservative, and as a rule refuse to feed on the 

 widely different substitute plants with which collectors often succeed in 

 rearing lepidopterous caterpillars. 



Other rare species are the Cardinal Beetle Fyrochroa serraticornis^ only 

 previously known in Ireland from county Limerick ; Donacia dentata, D. 

 clavipes, and Leistus niontanus^ Among the lepidoptera the best capture 

 was a fine male Lobster Moth {Siauropus fagi). 



J. N. H. 



NOTES. 



BOTANY. 



The Extinction of Cryptogamic Plants and the Need for a 



Lichen Exchange Club. 



I. — For some years past in England as well as to some extent in Ireland 

 Scotland, and Wales, in the neighbourhoods of large towUvS, it has been 

 noticed that cryptogamic plants, such as Lichens, Hepatics, and Mosses, 

 have become gradually scarcer and scarcer year by j'ear. This is due to 

 a variety of causes, amongst which perhaps the most potent is svioke* 

 Other reasons are increased dryness and the great variation from normal 

 climatic conditions noticed during the last twenty years. To this may 

 be added drainage and the deforesting" of large wooded areas for purposes 

 of cultivation. Where these or any other causes have brought about 

 the extermination of cryptogams (and flowering plants also) information 

 on this point would be exceedingly v-aluable to the writer, who is drawing 

 up an account of the extent of this increasing extermination amongst 

 these plants, and desires to have reports from each county in the British 

 Isles. 



In Ireland the causes mentioned are not so operative as in some parts 

 of England and Wales. Still as the causes are universal so are the 

 effects, and notes on this question from Irish counties will be gratefully 

 received and acknowledged. 



See /<?«;-«. of Bo!., September, 1907. 



