68 The Irish Naturalist. [March, 



threshold of our work, and were applied with a strenuous 

 striving after impartiality throughout the 12 districts, the 

 result being that comparisons between their various floras 

 may be made with a fair approach to accuracy. With the 

 fullest desire to do justice to the Donegal flora, w^e cannot 

 place its total number of species and sub-species, as at present 

 known, at a higher figure than 753, that is, 10 under Mr. 

 Hart's estimate. 



We are not called on to discuss in detail the final list on 

 pp. 42-44 of the Remarks dealing with additions to the Donegal 

 flora published after the 2nd Edition of Cybele had passed 

 through the press. Our rejoinder has already run to a great 

 length, chiefly for this reason, that a failure on our part 

 to meet any one of our critic's objections would infallibly 

 have been taken by a large mass of readers as an admission 

 of error. In conclusion, we can only express our deep regret 

 that the Flora of Donegal did not appear before the 2nd 

 Edition of Cybele had gone to press. Mr. Hart's book, as we 

 know, was in the press for fully three years and a half, while 

 the new Cybele^ a much larger and more complex work, passed 

 through the printer's hands in less than eight months, 

 although the greatest pains were taken to ensure typo- 

 graphical accuracy by repeated proof-revision. But for this 

 unfortunate delay in publishing the Donegal Flora, we should 

 have no reason to regret the incompleteness of Cybele as 

 regards North-west Ireland. 



Dublin. 



THE IRISH FLORA AND THE GIvACIAL PERIOD: 



A REJOINDER. 



BY R. F. SCHARFF, PH.D. 



Mr. Hart wishes the question as to whether our most tender 

 species of plants have existed throughout the Glacial Period 

 or no referred to those competent to form an opinion, and a 

 vote taken on the subject, the minority to abide by the 

 decision of the majority. As I cannot believe that Mr. Hart 

 w^ould propose such a scheme otherwise than seriously, 

 I would point out that this would be a most unscientific 



