I20 The Irish Naturalist. June, 
Cowslips do not grow naturally in woods, and what evidence Mr. Stewart 
had in favour of this station I do not know ; but when he and I failed to 
see the plant anywhere about Rostrevor during our survey of the Mourne 
Mountains, he wrote : — " Must be removed from the list of native 
plants " (/. N., iii., 54, 1894). Iii ^^e following year, I quoted an instance 
of Cowslips having been spread over an old meadow in Antrim by means 
of irrigating water which had flowed through a stack-yard where hay 
containing the remains of planted Cowslips had been stored {Suppl. 
Flora N. E. Ireland) ; and I was inchned to discount the occurrence of 
the plant as a native in the North-east. In connection with its 
occurrence near Rostrevor, Miss Angela Ross-of-Bladensburg, who knows 
the district well, kindly writes : — " There are very few Cowslips about 
here. I have only found them in the fields going to Warrenpoint and 
at Ballyedmond beyond Killowen. There are a few here (at Fairy Hill, 
Rostrevor) under beech trees near the garden. I have never seen any 
in really wild places nor further inland. They grow near houses beside 
Primroses in grass that is usually kept for hay — there are always Daffodils 
near. When we first came here there were only one or two little plants ; 
now there are several, but they do not seem to increase quickly. I am 
sure they are not native." The evidence seems against the Cowslip 
being indigenous in Down ; but we must not forget that its natural 
habitat is just those lowland grass-lands which are seized upon by man 
for lawns and pastures, where it persists in spite of, and not because of, 
man's presence. So we cannot be sure that we are not dealing with a 
relict plant rather than an introduction. As an apparently native species 
the Cowslip occurs mainly on limestone, and on the east coast extends 
northward as far as Louth, but does not appear to cross the mountain 
barrier that stretches from Carhngford to SHeve Gulhon. Further west 
it follows the limestone as far north as Lough Sheelin and Lower Lough 
Erne. Its occurrence as a native except on calcareous soils appears to 
be very rare. 
R. Lloyd Praeger. 
Dubhn. 
ZOOLOGY. 
Bees and Flowers. 
I read with amusement in the April number {supra, p. 65) Mr. Moflat's 
" rule of the bee, especially the Honey Bee, against mixing the honey or 
pollen of different species of plants." I do not question the correctness of 
his observation on the bed of wall -flowers ; nor his later observations on 
the curious mixing of honey from Lathyrus and Ajuga, but the " rule " 
has very many exceptions. Except when one flower is in such abundance 
that a load is easily gathered, the Honey-bee wanders freely to any plant 
in blossom. This is the first fine day since I read the article. I have, 
for ten minutes or so, watched four honey-bees in succession. They 
visited (a) white single Arabis ; {b) white double Arabis ; (c) purple 
