142 The hisli Naturalist. July 
NOTES, 
BOTANY. 
The British Ecological Society. 
The British Vegetation Committee, whose doings we have recorded 
from time to time, was formally dissolved on 12th April, and at a general 
meeting held immediately afterwards at University College, London, 
the British Ecological Society was founded. The Society will carry on 
the work of the Committee on a wider basis. One of its principal ac- 
tivities will be the issue of the Journal of Ecology, of which the first number 
has since been published. The Societ}^ will meet each April in London, 
and each autumn in the provinces, with such other meetings as may be 
arranged. The first President is Mr. A. G. Tansley, Botany School, 
Cambridge, and the Secretary, Dr. F. Cavers. Goldsmiths' College, London, 
S.E. 
The Hiberno-Lusitanian Problem. 
To Knowledge for June, Mr. G. W. Bulman contributes an article in 
which he defends the position that the Lusitanian plants in the Irish floia 
are portion of a pre-glacial flora. After suggesting that the absence 
of these particular species in England ma^- be due to a former barrier in 
that direction he quotes the case of Greenland, where an ample phanero- 
gamic flora now flourishes, which would appear to have survived the glacial 
period there. He points out that the Lusitanian plants in our flora are 
mostly not delicate species, and comments on the facts that fossil evidence 
of the persistence of temperate plants through the Ice Age is obscured by 
the fact that an}' deposits containing remains of such species are ipso 
facto set down as inter-glacial. 
Irish Seaweeds. 
Among the many results of the Clare Island Survey, the importance 
of an accurate and detailed knowledge of the distribution of plants and 
animals has been repeatedly emphasized. 
With regard to the marine algae, though some areas in Ireland ha\'c 
been well worked, others have been almost untouched, and in view of the 
publication of a revised list of this group I should like to appeal to Irish 
naturalists for help in filling up the gaps. The peculiar interest of the 
flora makes a knowledge of detailed distribution of additional impor- 
tance. The counties particularly in need of investigation arc Donegal, 
Wexford, and Waterford. It is concerning these that data are most 
urgently required, but assistance as to any county will be welcome. 
