I902. 141 



CHARACE^ FROM COUNTY MONAGHAN. 



BY REV. G. R. BULI.OCK-WEBSTKR, M.A. 



No one can be a student of the Characese without becoming 

 possessed of a strong desire to visit Ireland and explore its 

 many lakes and bogs. For the last six 3^ears I have restricted 

 my botanical studies to this order of plants, but it was not 

 till last summer that I had an opportunity of carrying my 

 desire into effect. 



In August last I spent nearly a month in County Monaghan. 

 Carrickmacross served as my headquarters, and from that 

 centre, with the aid of a bicycle, I worked the district as well 

 as the uncertain weather, and the somewhat rough nature of 

 the roads, would permit. County Monaghan offered a double 

 attraction, for, in the first place, the ordnance map indicated 

 a county abounding in pools and lakes and watery localities, 

 and, secondly, my census record of Irish Characese showed 

 that that county had evidently not been worked with any 

 thoroughness in pursuit of these interesting plants. My 

 notes gave Chara jragilis Desv. as the only record for the 

 count}', but the Irish Topographical Botany^ which Mr. Praeger 

 was at the time passing through the press, and of which he 

 was good enough to supply me with some advance sheets, 

 gave in addition to this Chara polyacautha Braun. Nifella 

 flexilis Agardh, and Nitella opaca Agardh. 



A promising field seemed to lie before me, and I lost no 

 time in setting to work. My first excursion was to lyOUgh 

 Rahans, some six or seven miles south of Carrickmacross, 

 where, with the aid of a boat and a kind companion who did 

 most of the rowing, I was able to make a careful investiga- 

 tion. We spent several hours on the water, and used both 

 hoe and drag freely, but not a single Chara showed itself. It 

 was the same in the neighbouring and larger lake, Ballyhoe, 

 though that piece of water I was scarcely able to examine 

 with the same care, owing to its large extent and the stormy 

 weather which set in in the afternoon. Bursk lyOUgh, hard 

 b}^, we also visited, with a like result. 



