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beautiful Erica Mackaii, a heath admired by all, but which that gen- 

 tleman (who originally found it) I am informed now considers to be a 

 mere form of the more common species ; and his views are concurred 

 in by his friend, the Professor of Botany in the Royal Dublin Society, 

 one of the first indigenous botanists in Ireland. 



About the 10th of July I walked from Oranmore to Kilcolgan, by a' 

 road which bounds the eastern end of Galway-bay, but not presenting 

 much of interest. Proceeding to Ardrahan, the scenery becomes fine, 

 and the limestone soil affords much for the inquiring botanist. Near 

 Kiltarton I was delighted with masses of the lovely Gentiana verna — 

 the most beautiful of all our Gentians. It was in full bloom — 



" Blue — blue — as if the sky let fall 

 A flower from its own cserulean wall." 



Here also I met with Carduus nutans, Asperula Cynanchica and odo- 

 rata, Chlora perfoliata, Gentiana campestris and Amarella, and a host 

 of Galiums of all forms and sizes. In the romantic lake Teeneran 

 grew Butomus umbellatus, and the rocks around were covered with 

 Lonicera and Hypericum Androsaemum. Resting at Gort, 1 next day 

 took the car which daily runs, during the summer, to New Quay, a 

 sweet and retired bathing-place, about nine miles across the bay from 

 Galway. Here the limestone shows itself in sterile grandeur around, 

 being barren in the extreme. From New Quay I walked a distance 

 of five miles round the creek to Ballyvaughan, a wretched little vil- 

 lage. Such fare, and such a bed for a poor weary naturalist, who is 

 only enlivened by a far too intimate acquaintance with hosts of the 

 order Siphonaptera. 



Getting clear at daylight of these loving friends, I trudged up a 

 long and weary ascent to the top of Beal-na-thulloch, and then what 

 dreariness is seen around I Towards Block-bead were piles upon 

 piles of large lime-stone blocks, and mass upon mass extended until 

 lost in the thick mist that covered the headland. 



Beyond the hill I saw the mountain avens {Dri/as octopetala) abun- 

 dantly in flower, the rock bramble with its bright red berries, and a 

 few plants of Cistopteris and Grammitis Ceterach, with frequent tufts 

 of Saxifi-aga hypnoides: — a wretched tract, however, for the botanist. 

 In the evening I reached Ennistymon, a delightfully situated little 

 village about two miles from the bathing place of Lahinch, and but 

 four from the famous cliffs of Mohir. I never saw such specimens of 

 Erica cinerea as grew around the rocky hills of the village. I have 

 seen plants three feet in height, with corollas almost as large as in 



