INTHOLUCTION. xxk 



and Ms conclufliona are of great value. Mr. Symes says— No definite 

 boundary line can be drawn, there being modifying influences to hinder 

 it. There are geological facts to consider as well as aspect : as regards 

 the former, the higher the chalk rises so will the cereals ripen at a higher 

 altitude above sea level. This is well seen between Glenarm and Drain's 

 Bay, on the road to Lame. The amount of drift that may be in a se- 

 cluded valley has a most important influence, as for example the valley of 

 the Braid along by Broughshane, and bordering on Slemish. The Braid 

 valley has ripening crops at a higher altitude than Glenwherry valley 

 which is parallel to it. Absence of drift on high ground prevents culti- 

 vation altogether. As regards slopes of hills, the northern^ slope, "wdth a 

 southern aspect is of course better. The outcrop of Basalt interferes with 

 vegetation on account of the enormous percentage of iron ; artifical grasses 

 will soon die out, and only heather and other indigenous plants remain. 

 This is weU seen on high ground between BaUycastle and Ballintoy. 

 Altitudes of 800 feet on the heights between Lame and Glenarm will 

 produce good crops, whereas 200 woiild be the maximum in Glenwherry 

 valley, yet the escarpment in question has to contend with the exposure 

 to injurious east winds. 



EXTENT AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FLORA.— Leaving 



out of sight the Excluded Plants, which number 271, the total here re- 

 corded amounts to 1169 species; made us thus — Flowering Plants, and 

 Higher Cryptogams 803, Mosses 293, Hepatics 73. The reckoning of 

 the number of plants in the flora of any district is influenced more or 

 less by the views of authors as to species, or reputed species, and the 

 Manual of British Botany by Prof. Babington, which enumerates 1524 

 plants has been taken as the standard for this Flora. It will thus appear 

 that the ratio of the plants of the northeast of Ireland as contrasted with 

 the entire British flora is as 803 to 1524, or rather more than half. For 

 all Ireland there are about 1000 plants, and compared with that flora the 

 proportion for this district will be 8-lOths. The London Catalogue of 

 Mosses and Hepatics states the number of the former in Britain as 568, 

 and of the latter 192 ; our mosses are 293, being a ratio very similar to 

 that just shown in the case of the flowering plants. The list of Hepaticse 

 or scale mosses of the locality shows only 73 as against 192 British, a 

 declining proportion which is not entirely real, but in part due to the 

 smaller interest which these plants have excited amongst local workers. 

 "With respect to mosses Dr. Moore stated the number known to occur in 

 Ireland at 369, an excess beyond the present list of 76, a ratio very simi- 

 lar to that in respect of the higher plants. The same authority gives 137 

 as the number of Irish hepatics, a great preponderance as compared 

 with 73 in the present enumeration. This local poverty may be explained 

 in part by local neglect, but the unfavourable comparison is owing, in a 

 much greater degree, to the unparalleled richness of some districts in the 

 south and west. 

 The district witl^ which this Fl<»a is concen^ed cannot he said to have 



