REVIEWS, BOOK NOTICES, ETC. IQl 



But collections were made in 1909 and subsequently by Miss M. C. 

 Knowles (Dublin), W. West (Bradford), W. A. Wattam ( Huddersfield), 

 and by Miss Smith and others. I'he result was a collection of 280 

 species, of which only 30 are noted in Adams' [japer, for subprovince 

 Co. Mayo, of which Clare Island forms a part. Though some had 

 been found in Cialway, 30 to 40 are new to Ireland — a very good record. 

 Nine noted by Adams were not seen, so that such species as Roccella 

 fuciformis and Collema flaccidiaji may be extinct. 



Miss Smith remarks that Clare Island (and district) is specially 

 favourable to lichens. An extremely interesting and graphic account, 

 pleasantly written, is given of the occurrence of different dominant 

 species. Inland Lecidea rivulosa forms patches 9 feet by 3 feet. It is 

 noted that Parmelia saxatilis passes over to the allied species P. 

 omphalodes. Observations such as these show how indispensable 

 field-work is to the interpretation of plant affinities and life-history. 

 The luxuriance of lichen growth may be illustrated by the fact that 

 a tree trunk was almost covered by Collegia nii:;resceus, a feature that 

 here may be best paralleled in England in the South. 



Some rare species are recorded, e.g. Arthonia subvarians, etc. 

 Miss Smith truly notes that the distribution of lichens is ecological 

 even more than geographical. But it is clear that the geographical 

 or physiographical conditions of the west coast of Ireland are 

 primarily responsible for not only the wealth of moisture-loving 

 cryptogams, but also for the characteristic phanerogams which are 

 peculiar to this humid and warm region. In the enumeration of 

 species the ecological distribution is given by denoting the habitat, 

 tree or bark, rock and wall, ground and soil, by the letters 

 B, R, and G. The list itself is of considerable interest and value, 

 and is an important contribution to lichenological literature. 



A Short Flok.v of Cambridgeshire, chiefly fro.m an Eco- 

 logical Standpoint. With a History of its Chief 

 Botanists. By Arthur H. Evans and others (" Proceedings 

 of the Cambridge Philosophical Society," vol. xvi., [)art iii.). 



This work has been written, as the author says, with the intention 

 of bringing Babington's work on the county up to date, and this it 

 succeeds in doing excellently. The book is divided into four parts, 

 viz. : — I., which gives a biographical sketch of the chief local 

 botanists irom the time of Ray downward to present time; II., which 

 deals with the physical features with its geological formations and 

 attendent floras ; III., an annotated list of some of the rarer plants 

 and extinct species : IV., a general list of species with the numbers 

 of the division in which found ; while V. deals with the Thallophyla. 



It is distinctly unfortunate that in the title there should be the 

 somewhat startling announcement, " chiefly from an ecological 

 standpoint," as we find the only claim it can have to deal with 

 ecology is that the county has been divided u[) into divisions follow- 

 ing roughly certain " geological formations." We fear this scarcely 



VOL. I. 14 



