380 Alexander Goodman More. [i893 



Joyce was carrying out for the Royal Irish Academy in 

 county Mayo. He writes from Bray : 



June 22nd, 1893. 



DEAR MRS. JOYCE, I received your welcome letter this morning. 

 I feel sure that you will find the long- sought Neotinea before very long. 

 Only think that it extends for miles along the Bay of Galway, and must 

 grow in many places near to Castle Taylor. It is very singular, too, 

 that it is only at Castle Taylor it has been found pur $ Us h- coloured. 

 The Clare specimens which I have seen were all greenish. The 

 interest will now lie in finding out how far to the east does the 

 Neotinea extend. Does it reach beyond Gentiana verna ? The 

 Hieracium you sent at the same time as Habenaria viridis is a rare 

 one, H. iricum. I hope that you will kindly continue to write occasion- 

 ally, and report progress. You are now upon most promising ground. 

 Pilularia grows on Lough Mask, Rosa sabini on L. Carra, and the 

 other Rosa ( ? R. systyla) is worth looking after. Do not despair of 

 finding Neotinea on the shores of either Carra or Mask. I never 

 visited that small lakelet you speak of. It should produce some 

 rarities. Among Potamogetons, those which have been called P. 

 longifolius are worth looking for. Will you please try a way of drying* 

 Potamogetons, which I think you will find easy and simple. Have a 

 few quires of thin cap-paper ready, then put your wet freshly-gathered 

 plants inside the double and folded sheet of cap-paper. Put the 

 Potamogeton, folded as it is inside the cap-paper, between some of the 

 sheets of drying paper, and, when you come to change it, leave the thin 

 paper attached to the Potamogeton, or other water plant, and do not 

 change the thin paper at all ; but shift the thin paper and the plant 

 together, just as they are, into some fresh drying paper. In this way 

 you will find it easy to dry most of your water-plants, and these 

 Potamogetons will become quite hard and stiff in two or three days. 

 Do not mind if all the specimens do not look perfect. If you can secure 

 old and young fruit, and floating and submerged leaves, there will be 

 no difficulty in naming the specimens. 



I am sure that some rarities remain yet to be found in the West of 

 Galway and Mayo. Any part of Lough Corrib, any part of Mask and 

 Carra are well worth trying. You will find, I think, Rhamnus frangula, 

 as well as R. catharticus, on L. Mask. Look also for Equisetum 

 wilsoni and E. mackayi. You might find Sanguisorba officinalis, as 

 I did, on the shore of one of these lakes. Always the lake shores are 

 worth examination. ... I do not think there is a second species of 

 white water-lily. But please measure the size of flowers and make 



* The careful setting of Mr. More's plants had always been remarkable. 

 Mr. Newbould, writing to him in 1860, relates how, in looking through a large 

 public herbarium, "the sight of a more than usually bad specimen made me 

 involuntarily exclaim, 'I wish we had some of More's specimens here!' " The 

 curator readily endorsed the wish. 



