2o8 The Irish Naturalist. 



ing districts, chiefly along our western sea-board. These 

 circulars, in almost all instances, were addressed to Roman 

 Catholic parish clergymen ; and, as I had fully expected, the 

 percentage of replies they brought me was very much larger 

 than in the case of the printed notice.' Of the circulars, twenty 

 per cent, were answered, a proportion not far short of expecta- 

 tion. As for the printed notice distributed through the agenc}- 

 of the Irish Naturalist, I cannot presume to say exactly how 

 small the percentage of answers may have been. Out of the 

 whole body of subscribers, however, only eight forwarded 

 specimens of Shamrocks ; but, of these, one sent no less than 

 five, another, four, and a third, three specimens, each certified 

 as genuine by a distinct authority. 



In addition to the plants thus secured, Mr. F. W. Burbidge, 

 Director of Trinity College Botanic Garden, supplied me with 

 a root, certified by one of his gardeners, a Tipperary man, as 

 the real Shamrock, and part of the stock grown in the Gardens, 

 and supplied as such to English inquirers ; another speci- 

 men was bought from an advertiser in the Co. I^outh, who 

 offered the plant for sale, at a not unprofitable price, "as the 

 true Irish variety," and, finally, three specimens were 

 bought in Dublin on the 17th March as real Shamrock, from 

 three different itinerant vendors, each of whom was required 

 to exercise the most scrupulous care in the selection of the 

 genuine plant from the obviously miscellaneous collection in 

 her basket.^ 



Altogether, thirty-five Shamrocks were secured and care- 

 fully planted and labelled, after they had been provisionall}^ 



1 I wish to express my thanks here to the following correspondents for 

 their kindness in sending specimens from their respective districts: — 

 Rev. T. O'Connor, Kilrosanty, Waterford (three plants); Rev. T. McGrath, 

 Clogheen, Tipperary; Rev. P. MacPhilpin, Aranmore, Galway bay; Rev. 

 P. Brennan, Corrigaholt, Clare; Rev. P. O'Keane, Easky, Sligo; Rev. P. 

 Kelly, Ardara, Donegal (two plants) ; Mr. Michael Costello, Inisheer, Gal- 

 way bay (two plants); Miss A. N. Abbott, Cork (three plants); Mrs. Delap, 

 Valencia island, Kerry; Miss Garner, Dublin; Miss Kinahan, Dublin 

 (plant from Ramelton, Donegal); Mrs. Leebody, Londonderry (four plants 

 from counties Donegal, Derry, and Tyrone); Mr. A. J. Collins, Belfast; 

 Mr. M. Comerford, Dundalk; Mr. T. Hunter, Ovoca, Wicklow (five plants); 

 Mr. Owen Smith, Meath ; and Mr. J. J. Wolfe, Skibbereen, Cork. 



2 These three plants matured into three distinct species, Medicago lupti- 

 lina^ Trifoliuni rcpens, and T. minus. 



