1 82 The Irish Naturalist. August, 



Close b}- Lenaderg, under trees by the banks of the Bann, 

 which there flows along the side of the railway, are masses of 

 Equisetum hyemale, which, with I think one exception, is 

 known elsewhere in County Down only in the Mourne Moun- 

 tains. Another plant that 1 had the good hap to gather at 

 the same spot was Amblystegium fluviatile. The moss was 

 found on rocks in the river shallows, where there is a rapid 

 current. At the time I was not aware that it had ever been 

 found in the North before, but Canon Lett has since informed 

 me that he met with it in July, 1900, at Corbet, some miles 

 higher up the Bann. It has been reported, I believe, from 

 only one other Irish station, and that in the extreme south. 



One of the most interesting plants observed at the Lenaderg 

 siding, interesting not only on account of its beauty, but by 

 reason of its rarity, and one least expected in such a place, 

 was Spergularia rtcbra. A few plants were first seen on the 

 siding platform, and, rendered conspicuous at the end of June 

 by its rosy inflorescence, it was easily traced, in goodly 

 quantit}^, for a distance of nearly a mile along the line of rail- 

 way, and is also plentiful by the railway side at Banbridge. 



On an old wall at Knocknagor, near the Bann, and not far 

 from the Lawrencetown station, is very characteristic and most 

 abundant Poa compressa} That it is as native there as any 

 other Irish grass nobody, I think, seeing it growing, could 

 entertain the slightest doubt. The wall on which it was seen 

 is one that, I am happy to think, is never likely to be besmeared 

 with the objectionable cement beloved of unaesthetic, if well- 

 meaning, county councillors. 



One day in June from the train, as it slowly glided through 

 a deep, rocky cutting between Banbridge and Mullafernaghan, 

 my attention was caught by a stately, golden -flowered 

 Hieracium-like plant. As seen from the train it seemed so 

 unusual, and so much excited my curiosity that I took the 

 first opportunity of walking along the line to examine it. The 

 plant was then found to be C^-epis biennis. It grows there in 



' Mr. S. A. Stewart, to whom I sent specimens of Poa compressa, writes ; — 

 " Native, as you say, without doubt. I can't see why anyone should 

 question it. I would as soon suspect Bellis perennis. It is easy to see 

 how it has so long escaped observation in these unscrutinised spots. 

 That is the only escape about it." 



