SHORT NOTES AND QUERIES. Ill 



pharmaceutists and medical men, has heen investigated by Mr. 

 Holmes, Curator of the Pharmaceutical Society's Museum. His 

 observations are printed in the Pharmaceutical Journal for Jan. 23rd 

 and Feb. 13th. From an examination of some ripe fruit he is able 

 to confirm Prof. Baillon's opinion that the plant is probably a species 

 of Pilocarpus, a genus of RutacecB. Engler has lately treated this 

 Order in the 65th Fascicle of the Flora Prasilieyisis, and from a com- 

 parison of his figures and descriptions with the Jaboraudi of com- 

 merce, Mr. Holmes considers P. Selloa?ius to approximate most nearly 

 to the latter, at all events to its smooth-leaved variety. The paper is 

 illustrated by figures of the leaves and fruit. 



Plants of the Islands of Aean, Galway Bay. — Mr. H. C. 

 Hart has published a list of the plants found in this chain of three 

 smal] islands and some rocks lying between the coasts of Connemara 

 and Clare, in the west of Ireland, hlis own observations were made 

 in August, 1869. The largest island is 9 miles long by 1^ wide, the 

 others much smaller ; the rock is entirely carboniferous limestone 

 with deep fiissures between the blocks and the surface, monotonous 

 and bare, sloping away from the fine cliffs on the south-west towards 

 the north-east or inland side. There are 372 species of Phanerogams 

 and Ferns enumerated, 33 are additional to District 6, of the Cyhele 

 Hihernica, in which the islands are included. A remarkable feature 

 is the occurrence of several alpine species almost at sea-level, e.g., 

 Ajuga pyramidalis, Galium, boreale, Saxifraga hypnoides, and Sedum 

 Rhodiola. Astragalus Hypoglottis has not been found elsewhere in 

 Ireland ; as it has decidedly eastern or " Germanic " tendencies in 

 Britain, its occurrence in these western isles is remarkable. None of 

 the characteristic "Atlantic" Irish plants are recorded, there is no 

 Erica mediterrmiea or Paheocia or Eriocaulon ; the flora is essentially 

 a limestone one, very similar to that of the Burren district in Co. 

 Clare, with the addition of many maritime plants. Lavatera arhorea 

 is thought native, also Erodium nwschatum ; Allium Bahingtonii is 

 considered "certainly the remains of ancient cultivation." The 

 paper has an introductory topographical account of the islands, illus- 

 trated with a man. 



ViciA Oeobus, DC.y IN South Hants. — Last summer while my 

 brother and myself were botanising in the i^ew Forest, we found Vicia 

 Orohus sparingly by the side of an enclosure between Lyndhurst and 

 Brockenhurst, nearer the latter place, with every appearance of being 

 indigenous. I have thought it well to record this, as I do not think it 

 has been found so far south before. I^ear this spot we also noticed 

 Rhynchospora fusca and Pinguicula lusitamca in the greatest profusion. 

 — James Groves. 



