192 The Irish Naturalist. October, 
II. MOSSES AND HEPATICS. 
BY REV. CANON H. W. LETT, M.A. 
The Muscineae collected in June, 1913, on the Great 
Saltee Island number 74 Mosses and 20 Hepatics, all of 
which are common. Unhke the habit of these plants in 
most parts of Ireland, I noticed that on this island they 
were all very scarce, and the colonies or tufts were invari- 
ably very small. This peculiarity I attribute to the presence 
of the multitudes of sea-birds and Rabbits which hold 
possession of the island. The Herring Gulls occupy every 
outcrop of rock or stone, their nests or hatching spots being 
everywhere in the large area covered by the forests of Pteris 
Aquilina, and they prevent any mosses growing except in 
odd crevices and corners, their excrement and the constant 
tramphng of their webbed feet being inimical to the existence 
or spread of cryptogams. The Rabbits also, by their 
burrowing in the earthen portions of the fences of what 
were some years ago cultivated fields, do not permit Mosses 
or Hepatics to fix themselves in what in other locahties 
are favourite habitats of these plants. The dry -built 
stone walls which form a portion of these dividers of the 
land are kept free of Mosses by the birds which use them 
as look-out stations and resting places while they are 
devouring such Rabbits as they may capture ; the relics 
of such feasts are noticeable in the quantities of fur and 
bones left along the tops of these wall-fences. 
At the south-west end of the island there is a large wide 
space close to the rocky margin of the sea where the Puffins 
do not allow a rush-spear or blade of grass to exist, the 
earth, which is black, being quite bare of vegetation, and 
there are several similar bare spots in other places on the 
island ; of course, not a scrap of a Moss or Hepatic grows 
in such deserts. On the other hand, all round the margin, 
especially on the north-west side, there are spots few and 
far between where the banks of clay and rocks are either 
almost perpendicular or where they overhang, and there 
the birds and beasts cannot rest or nest ; these were the 
