240 Tlic Irish Naturalist. [October, 



THE FI.ORA OF DONEGAI^. 



Flora of the County Donegral, or List of the Flowering Plants and 

 Ferns with their localities and distribution. By Henry Chichester 

 Hart, B.A., T.C.D., M.R.I.A., &c. Dublin: Sealy, Bryers, and 

 WaTker. London : David Nutt. 1S98. Svo. xxiv. + 392 pp. Map. 



Mr. Hart's long-promised and long-expected work has at length 

 appeared, and not only Irish but English and European botanists are to 

 be congratulated on possessing a full and masterly account of the 

 flora of Donegal, a county which must rank with Kerry and Galway as 

 one of the most interesting districts of Ireland. Mr. Hart's long sojourn 

 in and intimate knowledge of Donegal rendered him peculiarly fitted for 

 the task which A. G. More, many years ago, induced him to undertake, 

 and which has now been brought to a successful conclusion. It is 

 thirty-three years since he collected his first Donegal plant, and in 

 the intervening period he has explored ever}^ mountain and valle}-, cliff 

 and lake. 



When Cybclc Hiber)iica was published in 1S66, Donegal was a terra 

 incognita. Prof. E. Miirphy and Admiral Jones had done some botanizing 

 there, and More had listed the plants of the Killybegs neighbourhood, 

 but oul}' two-thirds of the present flora was then on record; the remain- 

 ing third, which has been added almost entirely by the researches of 

 Mr. Hart, embraces many of the most interesting plants of the county. 



Urged by the stimulating encouragement of More, and assisted by 

 grants from the Royal Irish Academy, Mr. Hart began a systematic 

 exploration which was steadily continued for many j^ears, the more 

 interesting result being published in a series of papers in the Proceedings 

 of the Academy and in the journal of Botany. The valuable additions to 

 our knowledge which these papers contained, together with a very large 

 amount of unpublished observations, are now presented to us in orderly 

 and concrete form. 



The flora of Donegal has long been known to be of high interest. 

 The rugged mountains of Cambrian and Ordovician rocks which cover 

 so large a portion of its surface are rich in alpine plants — as Irish moun- 

 tains go ; and, as might be expected from their northern position, the 

 alpines which these mountains harbour descend to lower levels than 

 elsewhere in Ireland. Then we have representatives of the southern 

 group of plants which render the South-west and West of such intense 

 interest to the botanist. Many of this group die out before the northern 

 latitude of Donegal is reached, but others— the London Pride. Irish 

 Spurge, Killarney Fern, Maiden-hair, and with them the American 

 Pipewort — range into the most northern county in Ireland. These 

 special features, coupled with a general vegetation of varied and 

 extensive character, combine to render the flora of Donegal one of the 

 richest and most interesting in Ireland. To show the distribution in the 



