Noics on the Flora of the Aran Islands. i 1 1 



For the total of species recorded by Messrs. Harrington and 

 Vowell' from the Ben Bulben district of fnlly four times the 

 extent of the Aran islands, is only 430, or eleven in excess of 

 the insular flora. And Ben Bulben, it must be borne in 

 mind, is not only, relatively to the Aran islands, a conti- 

 nental area, but rises over a large part of its surface to a 

 height which places it within the zone of alpine vegetation in 

 Ireland.- 



NOTHS. 



BOTANY. 



LIVERWOR TS. 



Rare Hcpaticae at Leixlip, Co. Kildarc— On the excursion of 

 the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, i8th June, 1892, a hurried visit was 

 paid to a narrow strip of marsh-land and shallow soil on limestone and 

 diatomaceous deposit, which slopes on each side of the margin of the 

 Ryewater river. It is on the south-w^est side of the railway station, and 

 is excellent collecting ground for flowering plants, etc. {Irish Naturalist, 

 vol. i., p. loi.) On July 2nd, in company with Dr. Scharff and Dr. 

 M'Weeney we paid it a second visit, of more extended duration, when I 

 collected the following liverworts, most of them in a fertile state. 

 Preissia commutata, Nees ; Frullania dilatata, Linn. ; Lophocolca hidentata, Linn. ; 

 Jungcrmania turhinata, Raddi; /. turhinata, Raddi, var. acutiloba; this 

 form which was quite new to me I fortunately found in fruit ; I sent a 

 portion to Mr. Slater, Yorkshire, an excellent authority on Hepaticte, 

 who says he compared the Leixlip plant with continental ones of 

 Jungcrmania corcyrosa, Nees, and the}^ are identical. Dumortier in his last 

 " Hepaticae Europoeae," 1874, gives /. corcyriea, Nees, as a synonym of/. 

 ticrbinata, Raddi (p. 79). He also gives on page 65 of the same work 

 Gymnocolea affinis, Dmrt. ; the two are, however, forms of the same plant, 

 the latter being the obtuse-lobed form of his /. turhinata, Raddi, and the 

 Leixlip plant the var. acictiloba ; it is abundant in this station, I am not 

 aware that this form has ever been found by any person in Ireland 

 before ; Blasia pusilJa, Linn., plentiful (this is a new locality) ; PiUin 

 cpiphylla, Dill. ; P. calycina, Nees, very fine, often immersed in water (this 

 is a new locality) ; Riccardia multifida, Dill. ; R. pinguis, Linn.— D.wiD 

 McArdi^E, Glasnevin. 



PHANEROGAMS. 



Inconstancy of Colour in Flowers.— Recent references in these 

 pages to the occurrence of White-flowered -'vSports" of the Centaury 

 {Erythrcca centaurium) and other species have no doubt aroused interest 

 in the general question of variability of colour m flowers. The question 

 is one which has attracted the attention of botanists from early times ; 

 but so far as I am aware no law of variability has ever been established. 

 Plukenetin his "Almagestum Botanicum," 1696, notes the White Cen- 



^ " Flora of Ben Bulben ''—Proc. R. I. Academy 1S85. • 1 i 



2 Those desirous of learning more about the flora of the Aran islamis 



are strongly recommended to read Mr. H. C. Hart's List of plants found in 



the Islands of Aran, Dublin, 1875. 



