64 The hish Naturalist. March, 



Recent investigation has thrown little fresh light upon the subject. 

 Several species have been added to the group of endemic Irish species. 

 Rut as a set-off against this, some which were alwaj^s considered real 

 natives up to a few years ago, have been found in Moidart on the west 

 coast of Scotland by Mr. Macvicar. On the whole, recent investigation 

 has tended to detract from rather than add to the unique character 

 of this portion of the Irish Flora. Many species thought to be native 

 only in the south-west have now been found in other parts of Ireland, 

 Wales, the English Lake District, but especially on the north-west 

 coast of Scotland. One genus, however, Lejeunea, whose headquarters 

 is in South America, is much better represented here than in Great 

 Britain, three species (Z. flava (Swartz) (a common Andiue species), L. 

 Holtii Spruce, and L. diversiloba Spruce) only growing on this side the 

 channel. 



It is interesting to compare our Irish list with the " Census of Scottish 

 Hepaticse " just published by Mr. Symers M. Macvicar in the " Annals of 

 Scottish Natural History," Jan., 1904. In this, 205 species are recorded 

 for Scotland, of which no less than 16 are additions to the British flora 

 made within the last few years, since the publication of Pearson's 

 "Hepaticse of the British Isles," wherein 224 species are described. Of 

 thesQ. Junger mania exsect(2for}nis , Breidler, has lately been found by Mr. 

 M'Ardle in Ireland, and others may be expected to occur. As might be 

 expected, we are much poorer than Scotland in northern and alpine 

 species, but richer in southern and Atlantic types. 



Ireland, as compared with Great Britain, is richer perhaps in Hepaticae 

 than in any other group of plants ; in spite of her poverty in alpines, 

 about two-thirds of the British species are to be found in Ireland. 



We hope that the publication of this laborious and useful work will 

 stimulate bryologists to try and fill up the gaps which remain, and direct 

 attention to some of the obscure and critical genera, such as Riccia and 

 Fossombronia, which have been neglected hitherto. 



C. H. WaddEi^i*. 



ALPINE BUTTERFLIES. 



The Butterflies of Switzerland and the Alps of Central 



Europe, By George WheelKR, M.A. London: E. Stock, 1903. 



Pp. 162. Price 55. net. 



This excessively condensed and abbreviated fauna will doubtless prove 



of great value to collectors in the Alps who have already some knowledge 



of the classification of Butterflies, but the extreme brevity and often 



total absence of generic characters spoil the book for use by beginners. 



The author seeks to fill the gap caused by the selling out of Kane's 



" European Butterflies," and he specializes in the listing and description 



of varieties and aberrations, as well as in the production of very carefully 



compiled lists of localities. All the Irish species of Butterflies are 



included in the fauna of Switzerland. 



G. H. C. 



