THK JUUUNAL OF BUTAXIf 



REVIEWS. 



Flojvt of County Kei^ry. By Reginald W. Scully, F.L.S. With 

 six plates and a map. Pp. Ixxxi, 406. 8vo. Dublin : Hodges, 

 Figg-is, & Co., Ltd., 1916. Price 12*. QJ. 



The author is tol>e heai-tih^ congratulated on the completion of this 

 important work, which deals with the flowering plants and higher crypto- 

 gams of a large county (1S53 square miles), containing the highest 

 hills in Ireland, and producing many species of exceptional interest. 

 He has explored it carefully for over twenty-five years ; indeed, no 

 book of the kind that I know shows plainer signs of intimate 

 acquaintance with the area treated of, and its vegetation. Mr. Colgan's 

 Flora of Couniy Dublin (1904), published by the same firm, has beeii 

 taken as a model, though the present volume is somewhat larger ; his 

 help, and that of other botanists, is handsomely acknowledged. The 

 print, paper, and binding are excellent ; and the map, though perhaps 

 on rather a small scale, is quite clear. 



A very full Introduction, under nine heads, gives all needful 

 details, and must have involved a vast amount of hard work. In the 

 history of the Flora, beginning w^ith a MS. mention of Arhntus and 

 the Oak at Killarney, about 1584, the gradual progress in botanical 

 knowledge is traced. A discussion of the physical features — coast- 

 line, islands, mountains, lakes, and rivers — leads on to a geological 

 sketch ; severe glaciation is indicated in the mountainous southern 

 parts. The climate, " moist, mild, and changeable,'" accounts for some 

 rioral peculiarities. *' There can be but little doubt that there are 

 localities in the south and w^est of Keny which receive the largest 

 rainfalls in Ireland " ; Mangerton, at 1760 feet, had an average of 

 97*40 inches during fifteen years, with a maximum of 140'9. The 

 mean temperature for January at Valencia, 44-5 deg. F., equals that 

 of Hyeres, Cannes, and Mentone. 



The characteristics of the Flora have received particular attention. 

 Of about 1150 native or naturalized Irish species and subspecies, 840 

 occur in Kerr3\ Dublin, less than a fifth of its size, almost equals 

 this number, but lies much nearer to England and has twice as much 

 cultivated land in proportion, with a drier atmosphere favouring the 

 establishment of colonists or aliens. The percentage of Ci/peracece,. 

 Fillers, and Naicnlacece in Kerr}" is 15'36, against 11*61 in Dublin, 

 9*2S in Kent, and 3*82 in Europe. A comparative scarcity of mari- 

 time plants may be due to the prevalence of strong Atlantic gales. 

 Watson's " Germanic " type has only five Kerry representatives (of 

 these, Mippophar has been planted, and Carex Boeuninghnusiana is 

 a hybrid) ; but the county possesses 54 of the combined " Scottish '^ 

 and "Highland" types, as compared with Wicklow's 36. Here are 

 the headquarters of six remarkable Irish species : — Saxifraya Ge7im, 

 H. vmhrosa^ Arhnfns, Pinf/vicnla grandiforo^ Sisi/i'inchinm angvs- 

 fifolinm, and Junciis tcnvis ; the last two (American) Mr. Scully 

 believes to be true natives in the count3% and no one has had better 

 opjiortunities of judging. Sih/J/nrpirt. T'^fricvlnrin Brcinii, Siviclhis^ 



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