378 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



As regards germination, events seem to follow a course common 

 to many bulb-forming monocotyledons (see, for instance, Lubbock's 

 Seedlings, ii. p. 578). The radicle is pushed outwards and down- 

 wards by the growth of the cotyledon, in the sheathing base of 

 which the plumule is protected ; the tip of the cotyledon remains 

 in the seed, acting as a sucker to absorb the nutritive endosperm. 

 The formation of the bulb is soon indicated by the swelling of the 

 base of the cotyledon-sheath, which forms the outermost bulb-scale. 

 Under some circumstances the cotyledon may reach a considerable 

 length before the plumule shows any sign of breaking through at 

 its base. 



SOME NORTH-EAST IRELAND RUBI. 

 By Rev. W. Moyle Rogers, F.L.S. 



As bramble referee for the Watson Botanical Exchange Club, 

 I have had dried specimens of Co. Down Rubi sent to me for 

 annotation annually since 1893, the collectors being the Rev. 

 C. H. Waddell and the Rev. Canon Lett, to both of whom I am 

 very greatly indebted for help given me in the preparation of this 

 paper. The majority of their specimens have caused me little or 

 no difficulty, as they obviously belonged to familiar British forms ; 

 but in all of the packets in recent years there has been no in- 

 considerable admixture of unfamiliar-looking forms, which I only 

 very gradually learnt to sort with any confidence. I was especially 

 glad, therefore, of an opportunity of seeing the living bushes, over 

 a fairly extensive area, under Canon Lett's guidance last July, while 

 his guest for ten days at Aghaderg, near the western border of 

 Co. Down. As we were favoured with exceptionally fine weather, 

 we were able also to explore part of the contiguous north-east corner 

 of Co. Armagh. These notes give the result. I have added brief 

 remarks on some Co. Antrim Rubi, also seen growing in July last, 

 partly by my son Rev. F. A. Rogers, and partly by myself; and also a 

 few earlier records for the three counties by other collectors, whose 

 specimens I saw. But I have thought it best not to include the 

 numerous additional records for the three counties which were pub- 

 lished from time to time in the Irish Naturalist and elsewhere, and 

 are now embodied in Mr. Lloyd Praeger's recently issued Irish 

 Topographical Botany. 



For the counties visited I give the comital numbers suggested 

 in Irish Topographical Botany — viz. 37, Armagh ; 38, Down ; and 

 39, Antrim. The living bushes were seen by me in every instance 

 in which the locality is not immediately followed by the name of 

 the collector. Glynn (near Larne), where I stayed for the few days 

 I spent in Co. Antrim, is but poorly furnished with Rubi ; but the 

 Aghaderg, Banbridge, and Newry neighbourhoods (counties Down 

 and Armagh) are exceedingly rich in distinct forms as in individual 

 bushes. The bushes, however, grow almost exclusively in hedges, 

 and so present special difficulties to the student — a circumstance 



