CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



freshwater marl, in which are found the remains 

 of Megaceros Hibernicus and Bos longifrons. In 

 Kerry, Cork, and Waterford, the strata are very 

 much contorted, the coal-seams are changed into 

 anthracite, and so squeezed and crushed as to be 

 got only in small dice-like fragments. Further 

 north, the strata are nearly horizontal, but the 

 coal-fields are limited, and the seams are gener- 

 ally of inconsiderable thickness. They occur 

 chiefly in Tipperary, Kilkenny, Tyrone, and 

 Antrim. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of Ireland is remarkable for its 

 mildness and humidity results arising, in the first 

 place, from its being surrounded by the Atlantic, 

 from which no portion of its interior is distant 

 more than 50 miles ; and in the second, from the 

 comparatively small elevation which the generality 

 of its land attains. This mildness is proved by 

 the fact, that even in the northern county of 

 Donegal, the arbutus, laurustinus, agapanthus, 

 and fuchsia grow healthily in the open air, and 

 myrtles so luxuriantly as to cover the walls of 

 houses up to the second story. Its humidity, 

 though great, differs considerably in different dis- 

 tricts ; at Cork, for instance, the average annual 

 fall is said to be 40 inches ; at Dublin, it is only 

 30 inches. The average over the whole island is 

 estimated at 36 inches. Owing to its mildness 

 and humidity, the climate is especially favourable 

 to vegetation, the land being clothed in an almost 

 perpetual greenness. 



Considerable variety of climate, at least as 

 regards temperature, is found in Ireland, and, as 

 in Great Britain, the temperature of one district 

 changes relatively to that of another, according to 

 the season of the year. We give the following on 

 the authority of the Journal of the Scottish 

 Meteorological Society (Nos. 28, 29, art ' Tempera- 

 ture of the British Islands,' with thirteen charts). 

 In January, the coldest month of the year in Ire- 

 land, as in Great Britain, the coldest part of 

 Ireland lies between the 53d and 54th parallel of 

 latitude, at a distance of about 30 miles from each 

 coast. The mean temperature of the month is 

 here 39, which is equal to that of the warmest 

 part of the mainland of Scotland, and slightly 

 above that of London for the same month. The 

 mean January temperature of 40 takes an eccen- 

 tric course from Malin Head, in the extreme 

 north, running south at a distance of 20 or 30 

 miles from the coast to about Limerick in the 

 south-west ; thence it passes east, through Dublin 

 and Belfast. The warmest part of Ireland, in 

 January, February, and March, is the corner 

 lying south of a line drawn from the head of 

 Dingle Bay by Killarney to Cork, where the mean 

 January temperature is 42 to 43, about i below 

 that of the warmest part of England, and 2-5 

 above that of Pau, in the south of France (40-5). 

 As the season advances, latitude becomes the 

 determining element in Irish as in British climates ; 

 by April the isothermals, or lines of equal temper- 

 ature, run almost in parallels north and south ; 

 the corner from Dingle Bay to Wexford being the 

 warmest part of Ireland in spring and summer. 

 Here April has the same temperature as England 

 south of London, 49 to 50. In July, the warmest 

 part of England is 2* wanner than this part of 



253 



Ireland, whose mean temperature is then 62* ; the 

 corner north of Londonderry and Belfast being 

 then the coldest part of Ireland, with a mean 

 temperature of 58 to 59 ; the same as Edinburgh, 

 and 5 to 6 below that of London. 



BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 



The native Flora and Fauna of Ireland generally 

 resemble those of the neighbouring island ; the 

 cultivated plants and domesticated animals are 

 identical. There are, however, some species 

 peculiar to the island, of which the following are 

 the most remarkable : The strawberry-tree, found 

 at Killarney, particularly beautiful from its abund- 

 ance of red fruit ; the Irish rose, found near Bel- 

 fast ; the Irish furze, found sparingly in Down, 

 distinguished from common furze by its upright 

 mode of growth and softer texture ; the Irish or 

 Florencourt yew, of upright growth and dark-green 

 foliage, resembling that of the cypress ; the Irish 

 menziesia, whose large purple heath-like bells 

 decorate the wild districts of Galway ; the Cor- 

 sican and other species of heaths, found also in 

 Spain and the islands of the Mediterranean ; and 

 carrageen or Irish moss, a sea-weed of some com- 

 mercial importance. 



At present, Ireland is not a well-wooded country 

 a defect which is fast being remedied by exten- 

 sive plantations ; but we have historical evidence, 

 as well as the indubitable records of her bogs, that 

 at no very remote period large tracts were covered 

 with a gigantic growth of the ordinary forest-trees. 

 Morrison (1596) and Davis (1605) mention the 

 forests in which the poor Irish took refuge ; and 

 all the scenery of Spenser's Faery Queen is drawn 

 from the river Bandon, which he celebrates as the 

 ' pleasant Bandon wood y-crowned,' as it is to this 

 day. Boate, in his Natural History (1652), men- 

 tions the great extent of wood then standing. The 

 violent transfers of property that were constantly 

 occurring for many years subsequently to this 

 date, would, of course, produce recklessness and 

 improvidence, and the holders of land would 

 naturally seek to make the most of it by cutting 

 down the woods, while there was little inducement 

 to plant. There are still, however, in a few 

 favoured spots, some remains of the ancient oak 

 and ash woods, as at Killarney, at Glengariff near 

 Bantry, in Connemara, in some spots of the 

 county of Wicklow, and in Donegal, near the 

 beautiful Lough Van, where a few red deer are 

 still to be seen. 



With respect to the animal kingdom, the elk 

 has passed away, leaving its skeleton and antlers 

 in the bogs as memorials of its gigantic size ; the 

 wolf has disappeared since the time of the Com- 

 monwealth ; the wolf-dog is still to be met with, 

 though rarely ; the red deer frequents the wild 

 mountain districts of Kerry ; the eagle inhabits 

 the western coast of Connaught ; the Irish falcon 

 of our ancestors is, we believe, extinct; and the 

 gillaroo and dorchar trouts are limited to Lough 

 Neagh. Of the domesticated animals, though 

 these are now generally cross-breeds, Ireland 

 possesses some varieties regarded as peculiar 

 namely, the Irish black horse, the 

 old Irish breeds of the ox, a worthless wiry- 

 sheep, and a long-legged narrow-bodied pig. 

 consequence, it is presumed, of the humidity of 



as peculiar 

 e Kerry and 

 wiry-woolled 

 lied pie. In 



