ON THE BOTANICAL SUBDIVISION OF IRELAND. 59 



publication of Cybele Hibernica marked the cunimt'ncement of a 

 large amount of field-work, this was in most cases confined to small 

 areas, and Babington's county list lay u.nused, and apparently 

 almost forgotten, till 1881, when Prof. W. E. M'Nab read before 

 the lloyal Dublin Society a "Short Note on the Botanical Topo- 

 graphical Divisions of Ireland," which is printed in their Pro- 

 ceedings.''' This paper purports to be a revision and extension of 

 Babington's scheme, but the suggestions put forward — the Roman 

 numerals for the provinces, the use of the word "province" instead 

 of "district" (which was used in Cybele Hibeniica), the giving of 

 names to the provinces, and the numbering of the vice-counties — 

 all these had been already published in Babmgtou's paper ; and 

 M'Nab's table of provmces and counties is identical with that of 

 Babington, except that he commenced the numbering of provinces 

 and of counties with L, and that he does not subdivide the county 

 of Kerry. 



No further reference to or use of Babington's county-division 

 scheme appears until the present year, when Messrs. Groves em- 

 ployed it in their valuable paper on "The Distribution of the 

 CharacecB in Ireland,"! in which the distribution of the species and 

 varieties is shown in list form, on the plan of Watson's Topographical 

 Botany. 



For some time past a sense of the importance of commencing 

 the large amount of field-work that must be carried out before an 

 Irish TopoijrapJiical Botany becomes a possibility has been steadily 

 growing in my miud; and this led me some months ago to go care- 

 fully into the question of the most advantageous subdivision of the 

 country into counties and vice-counties. As regards about twenty- 

 four out of the thirty-two Irish counties, I had the benefit of at 

 least some personal knowledge, topographical and botanical ; and 

 regarding others, I have had the great advantage of the opinions of 

 botanists whose special acquaintance with the fiora of these counties 

 is well known. The first result of my enquiry has been the con- 

 viction that the subdivision of the laiger counties as proposed by 

 Babington can be now improved upon ; and indeed this is not a 

 matter for surprise when we consider the enormous advance made 

 during tiie intervening period of thirty-seven years in our knowledge 

 of Irish botanical topography (though that knowledge is yet very 

 far from complete). I am also convinced that the order in whicli 

 the counties and vice-counties are numbered in Babington's scheme 

 is not the most convenient or useful one that can be devised ; and 

 in this view I am glad to have the support of several of the most 

 practical Irish botanists. It is manifestly important that some 

 scheme of county- division and coiinty-numbeiiiig should be fixed 

 once for all, according to which future records may be systematically 

 noted. This is especially desirable at the present time, when there 

 appears to be a distinct increase of activity as regards Irish botany, 

 as shown not only by the work which is being done by home workers, 



• Sci. Proc. R. D. S., n. s. iv. 197 (1885). 

 t Irish Naturalist, Jan. and Feb. 1895. 



