1884 ] Correspondence with Mr. S. A. Stewart. 313 



How he could have hoped to bring out the new Cybele 

 in the ensuing 15 months is scarcely explicable. The 

 entire reconstruction oi the Kildare-street Museum was 

 being planned ; and the extra pressure of work in connexion 

 with such a change must have added considerably to the 

 difficulties of the undertaking, which in any case would not 

 have been slight. But if his own botanical work did not 

 make the progress he had anticipated, his interest in that 

 of others was at its usual pitch of activity. A selection is 

 here given from the series of letters written during this 

 period to Mr. S. A. Stewart : 



SCIENCE AND ART MUSEUM, DUBLIN, 



May i^th, 1884. 



DEAR SIR, I am afraid that I neglected to answer your last letter, 

 which reached me just as I was laid up with a rather severe attack of 

 illness. I should be glad to hear whether you are making any progress 

 towards the publication of the proposed Flora. The last plan of which 

 you sent me a sample will no doubt do well enough, .... and there 

 is no one better able than yourself to undertake it. 



Another thing the time is coming for making grants by the Royal 

 Irish Academy, and I think you would do well to send in your applica- 

 tion, say for ^15, to examine any district in which you feel interested, 

 or which you think specially requires examination. Mr. Barrington is 

 going to Ben Bulben with Mr. Vowell, who knows the ground already ; 

 and if you are thinking of making your application it should be done at 

 once. 



May igth, 1884. 



DEAR SIR, I was very glad to receive your letter. With regard to 

 the district which you propose examining, Mr. Hart, only last autumn, 

 made a list of the Brandon peninsula, so that that part must be given 

 up. He was also on Croagh Patrick, Nephin, and Mweelrea the year 

 before, and I do not think that the flat country and hilly moors would 

 yield you much of consequence. There are a few lakes near the shore, 

 not far from Louisburg, which I suppose you would make your head- 

 quarters. 



There will be a meeting about the grants on next Monday, to-day 

 week, so that if you will think it over and can select some other district, 

 I think you would have a better chance of succeeding in your applica- 

 tion. Is there no part of Ulster that still requires examination ? 



What about Cavan ? 



Or if you desire a more distant field of operations, would you like 

 the water and shores of Lough Corrib and Lough Mask ? and Carra ? 



