146 The Irish Naturalist. 



A BOTANICAL TRIP TO CO. ANTRIM. 



BY W, A. SHOOLBRED, M.R.C.S., CHEPSTOW. 



The following notes are from observations made during a 

 short trip to County Antrim in July, 1893. 



My chief object, botanically, in visiting this part of Ireland 

 was to make a collection and take notes of the Hieracia of the 

 cliffs and glens. 



By the middle of July in an ordinary season most of the 

 species of this genus would have been at their best ; but owing 

 to the long, hot, and dry summer many of those growing in 

 exposed parts of the cliffs were too far gone for identification. 

 In fact the majority of the cliff-plants had long since gone to 

 seed, and many were quite dried up. 



My first day at Belfast was anything but propitious ; there 

 was an incessant downpour of rain until six in the evening. 

 It was almost the first rain I had seen for nearly three 

 months. However, after it had ceased, Mr. S. A. Stewart 

 kindly went with me to Holywood for Rosa hibemica. This 

 rose does not appear to ripen its fruit, at least in this locality. 

 On the marshes near we gathered CEnanthe Lachcnalii, and 

 searched some time for Zannichcllia polycarpa in the shallow 

 water, where Mr. Stewart had always before seen it in abund- 

 ance ; but although nearly poisoned by the stench caused hy 

 stirring up the sewage, we failed to find a single piece. Mr. 

 Stewart has since sent me specimens from a deep drain near 

 hy> where he subsequently found it in plenty. The dry weather 

 had doubtless caused the sewage in the shallow water to 

 become too concentrated for the plants to live. 



Next day, after I had visited Cave Hill, Mr. Stewart again 

 joined me in the evening in a walk to part of the Black 

 Mountain for Pyrola media, which, like so many other plants, 

 had gone out of flower. Mel am py rum sylvaticum we failed to 

 find in its locality here, it having probably seeded down and 

 died off. 



From Belfast I went on toLarne, staying there for one night 

 in order to visit Sallagh Braes. Unfortunately I did not give 

 myself enough time for this expedition, and the heat when 

 the cliffs were reached was too great for much scrambling 

 after a mid-day walk from L,arne. 



