I900.] Coi^GAN. — Bota?iy of Galway and Mayo Highlands. 115 



point exceeds 2,500 feet. Mr. Hart explored this ridge in 

 1882, and in the absence of any definite name on the Ordnance 

 map he styles it I^oughty. The only local name we could find 

 for it was ShefFry ; but no doubt neither name is applied to the 

 whole ridge by the handful of shepherds which makes up the 

 population of Glenummera. The ascent from the valley floor 

 to the highest point was over monotonous grassy slopes, and 

 no plant of interest was noted until the crest of the ridge was 

 reached. Here Lycopodiion alpimcm, already recorded by Mr. 

 Hart, appeared in abundance, and we afterwards traced it for 

 fully a mile eastward along the crest. Nothing could look 

 more disappointing than the reverse or northern slope of 

 ShefFry. lyooking eastward, it presented an extremely steep 

 talus of finely broken slate, like the rubbish screes of a great 

 Welsh quarry. , Here and there knobs of rock protruded from 

 its upper reaches, but the whole looked painfully dry and 

 naked. Turning westward, the form of this northern slope 

 looked somewhat more promising. Bastions of steep rock, 

 arranged in ledges, capped the talus for a height of about fifty 

 feet, and a careful examination of these was rewarded by 

 Saiissurea alpiyia in a new station. It occurred here in con- 

 siderable quantit}" at a height of 2,200 feet, and re- appeared at 

 1,600 feet further to the eastward on the same slope. Hitherto 

 this alpine has in District VIII. been known only from one station 

 in Mayo, Croaghpatrick, where Mr. Hart discovered it in 1882. A 

 glissade on the steeply pitched slopes of shifting slate debris 

 took us down 500 feet to its base in a few minutes, and here, 

 on moist rock-shelves, at about 1,500 feet, Thalictriim alpi7ium 

 and Selaginella selaginoides, both new to Shefifry, appeared in 

 abundance. Returning to the crest of the ridge in thick mist 

 we found on rocks near the top Sedtim Rhodiola, Oxyria 

 reniformis, and Carex rigida, the latter, as Mr. Hart has pointed 

 out, almost ubiquitous on the higher mountains of Galway and 

 Mayo. It was nightfall when we reached Bundorragha ferrj^ 

 on the Killary, thoroughly soaked by some three hours of 

 steady rain, but well pleased with the results of our long day. 

 The alpine flora of Sheffry, adding to Mr. Hart's list the few 

 additions we were fortunate enough to make, numbers no less 

 than II species: — Thalictruni alpinum, Sedum Rhodiola, 

 Saxifraga stellaris^ S. oppositifolia, Saussurea alpina^ Vaccinium 



