1 46 The Irish Naturalist, • August, 



In 1896 appeared (iS) Praeger's forty divisions into counties 

 and vice-counties, which were subsequently adopted (with one 

 change as regards Co. Donegal), in his " Irish Topographical 

 Botany " (19) in 1901. While the countj^ boundary is rigidlj^ 

 adhered to elsewhere, as regards the liberties of Derr}^ 

 Drogheda, Waterfo^'d, and Limerick, this rule is departed 

 from ; and the Aran Isles are considered to belong to Clare. 



The twelve divisions of Babington were employed by 

 M'Ardle (11) in 1904 to show the distribution of Irish liver- 

 worts. On the other hand, Praeger's divisions are employed 

 to show the distribution in Macvicar's " Census Catalogue of 

 British Hepatics" (10) published in 1905, and also the distri- 

 bution of Irish Mosses in the Moss Exchange Club's " Census 

 Catalogue of British Mosses" (15), published in 1907. 



In a forthcoming paper on Irish Algae I have employed the 

 four provinces as the units of area. 



So far we have been considering the subdivisions of Ireland 

 from a botanical standpoint only. 



Scharff in his paper on the Irish Land and Freshwater 

 MoUusca (20) in 1892 is the only zoologist who appears to 

 have emploA-ed the twelve districts of Babington to indicate 

 distribution. 



Carpenter in his paper (3) on Irish Spiders in 1898 indicates 

 the distribution in each of the four provinces and also in the 

 counties. Johnson and Halbert adopt the same subdivisions 

 in their paper on Irish Beetles in 1902. 



Stelfox (21) uses Praeger's divisions for the Land and Fresh- 

 water MoUusca of Co. Galway in 1907. Welch also intends 

 to use Praeger's scheme in a forthcoming report on the Irish 

 Land and Freshwater MoUusca. 



We have next to consider the distribution of the marine 

 species. Wright (23) in a paper on Irish Actiniidae in 1859 

 was the first to propose divisions of the coast line. These 

 were as follows : — (i) From Tory Island or Horn Head to 

 Rathlin Island or Fair Head. (2) Fair Head to Downpatrick. 

 (3) Downpatrick to Carnsore Point. (4) Carnsore Point to 

 Cape Clear. (5) Mizen Head to Kerry Head or Mouth of 

 Shannon. (6) Loop Head to Krris Head, j) Erris Head to 

 Horn Head. This system of division, it will be observed, 

 omits that part of the coast line extending from Cape Clear 

 to Mizen Head, 



