224 The Irish N'aturalist. [vSeptember, 



ROUND LOUGH CONN. 



BY R. LLOYD PRAEGER, B.E. 



It miglit, perhaps, have been more in keeping with the times 

 to have headed this narrative " How I climbed Nephin," 

 especial!}' in view of the fact that the ascent of this mountain 

 was absolutely devoid of incident ; but Lough Conn will be 

 found to represent the centre of interest in the ramble described 

 in the following pages, and may well stand sponsor for the 

 whole. The necessity of filling up many gaps in the floras of 

 West and East Mayo took me to that part of Ireland in the 

 last week of Juh% and Ballina made a convenient and com- 

 fortable head-quarters, where salmon formed the staple article 

 of diet. The main features of the surrounding district will be 

 seen by a glance at a map. The river Moy flows northward 

 through the town. Below Ballina it is tidal, and widens into 

 an estuar}^ which in turn gives place to the broad waters of 

 Killala Ba}'. At Ballina the river descends a series of lime- 

 stone ledges like a flight of stairs, and for many miles above 

 this fall it is deep and slow, flowing through great flat bogs. 

 The Moy at Ballina separates West Maj'o from Sligo, but a 

 few miles southward Sligo gives wa}' to East Ma3'o. All 

 around Ballina the Carboniferous limestone prevails, but on 

 either hand lie great areas of mountainous metamorphic 

 countr}'. Lough Conn, eight miles long bv about three miles 

 wide and (what is practically its continuation) Lough Cullen 

 (three by two miles) lie on the edge of the limestone, 

 west of the Mo}^ ; and close to the lake-shore the huge 

 quartzite mass of Nephin (2,646 feet) towers imposingl}', and 

 forms the dominating feature of the district. 



The botan}^ of this area is not too well known. A. G. More 

 stayed at Foxford, on the Moy nine miles above Ballina, for 

 several months in the summer of 1864, and what we know of 

 the botan}' of Lough Conn is due to him. Dr. Dickie visited 

 Nephin, and in the Introduction to " Flora of Ulster" (1S64) 

 gives a list of its plants in descending order. Mr. Hart, in his 

 exploration of the Ma5'0 and Galway mountains, also ascended 

 the mountain, and has published a good account of its scanty 

 flora.^ This appears to complete the enumeration of the 

 explorers of the Lough Conn region. 



■• Report on the Flora of the Mountains of Mayo and Galway, Proc. 

 K.I. A., 2 (Science) iii., pp. 702-4. 1883. 



