204 The Irish Naturalist, September, 



its Mourn e and Ards stations, b}^ a single plant gathered by 

 Corr}' in Killough Ba3^ I found it tolerably abundant below 

 Minerstowu, and extending sparingly to Ringsallin on one 

 side and Rossglass on the other. A rarer local species is 

 Mertensia 7}ia7itima. Excepting its Mourne stations, the only 

 Down records are, near Dundrum (1799) and at Rathmullan 

 (1810), John Templeton ; and a single plant at Rathmullan 

 (1878), T. H. Corry. I found it first at Rossglass Point below 

 Janeville — a good colony — and traced it thence westward, 

 sometimes in considerable abundance, to Rathmullan Point, 

 a distance of nearly three miles, the station of Templeton and 

 Corry forming its extreme western limit. The road runs 

 mainly along the beach here, vSometimes without any fence, so 

 that this rare and shy plant may actually be described as 

 flourishing by the roadside. About Minerstown Echizivi is a 

 sight to see, fringing the fields, and in some cases filling them, 

 with a blaze of vivid blue. From Minerstown westward 

 A /; ipkxfarinosa occurs frequentl}^, and at Benderg. Raphanus 

 viayithnus, also very rare locally (see p. 209), was seen sparingly 

 at Rossglass Chapel and at Murphystown. Affiplex po7t7i- 

 lacoides was found at the head of Carlingford Lough by Mr. 

 Stewart in 1882, which remained the only Ulster vStation till Mr. 

 R. Hanna found it at the Inner Bay of Dundrum in 1894. My 

 rambles extended its range further northward., in three stations 

 successively, as far as Guns Island. An important find was 

 O1 Ms pyramidalis. This was known from Down only through 

 two plants seen at Ballyholme in i873by Mr. Stewart, which were 

 set down as casual in " Flora N. E. Ireland.", and the plant ex- 

 cluded ; I reinstated it for Down in " Irish Top. Bot", believing 

 it to be native there. My wife spotted it from the car growing 

 on a bank over the road east of Murphystown. It is here ex- 

 tremely rare — two specimens onl}- were seen, just as at Bally- 

 holme — but later the same valuable ally drew my attention to 

 a young plant on which I had almost put my foot west of 

 Killard Point. Searching here, we discovered it in abundance 

 along the slopes over the sea for a considerable distance, ex- 

 tending as far west as the coastguard boathouse. Habejiatia 

 viridis^ rare in Down, grew with it sparingly. Thalict7uin 

 du7ie7ise was also extended northward in Down. At Rath- 

 mullan it grew by the roadside, and also by the beach, where 



