69 THE FLORA OF IRELAND. 



may add that the B. typhosus is universally distributed, and that three 

 years ago B. intracellularis jneningitidis made its appearance in the 

 Dublin District and gave rise to a severe outbreak of cerebro-spinal men- 

 ingitis." 



Several extremely rare European Lichens are known to occur in Ireland. 

 Of these Gomphillus and Melaspilea have been found in only one other 

 British station, and Sirosiphon and Pycnothelia have not been found in 

 any other locality in the United Kingdom. 



The most interesting lichens are two tropical species which in Europe 

 are confmed to Ireland — Leptogidimn detidriscum, a native of Brazil, Isle 

 of Bourbon, and New Caledonia ; and Glyphis labyrinthica, a native of 

 Guyana, Amazon, and Ceylon, have been gathered at Killarney in the 

 great sheltered damp hollow, only a few feet above the sea-level, which lies 

 midway between the summit of Carrantual and Mangerton, the highest 

 mountains in Ireland, whereon the arctic Cetraria islandica (Iceland Moss) 

 has its only Irish habitats. In Connaught, Parmelia saxatilis, Lecanora 

 patella, and Lecanora tartarea, but especially the first-named, are used in 

 the process of dyeing the home-spun woollen yarns of the inhabitants. 



Irish lichenology suffered a heavy loss in the accidental death of Admiral 

 Jones, whose large collection of lichens is preserved in the Botanical 

 division of the Science and Art Museum in Dublin. The Rev. H. W. Lett, 

 who mentions 8g species of lichens in his paper entitled " Report on the 

 Mosses and Lichens of the Mourne Mountains District " (Proc. R.I. A., ser. 

 3, vol. I, 1889), has supplied the following particulars of the more important 

 literature. At the present moment no one is actively engaged in the study 

 of Irish lichens. 



J. T. MaCKAY, Flora Hibernica, Part 2 (1836), contains descriptions by 

 Dr. Taylor of 300 species, chiefly from the S.W. and N.E. 



Isaac Carroll, " Contributions to Irish Lichens," in the Proc. of the 



Dublin Univ. Zool. and Biological Association, 1859, vol. i, pp. 268- 



276, Plates, 29-31). 

 Admiral Jones, " Report on the progress made in collecting Irish lichens, 



with a list of those presented to the Dublin Natural Society, May, 1 864 ; 



also an Index List in Proc. Dublin Natural Plistory Society, vol. 4, 



pp. 1 14-149 (1865), which comprises 349 species. 



Admiral Jones, " Report on the progress made in collecting Irish 

 Lichens," in Proc. Dublin Natural History Society, vol. 4, pp. 280-290 

 (1866), which adds 56 species to previous list. 



Rev. W. Leighton, Lichen Flora of Great Britain and Irelatid and the 

 Channel Islands, 3rd edit. (1879), gives Irish records for 770 of the 

 species and varieties described — principally from the S.W., N.E., 

 Dublin, Wicklow, and Gal way. 



Greenwood PiM, " List of the Lichens of Counties Dubhn and Wicklow," 

 in Proc. R.D.S., New Series, vol. i (1878), which includes 150 species. 



It must be a matter of surprise that so much excellent work has been 

 done when it is remembered that Botany has hitherto received no encour- 

 agement either in the elementary schools or in the boys' secondary (or 

 intermediate) schools of the country, and that in the girls' secondary schools 

 it has been treated as a polite accomplishment, largely taught and altogether 

 examined theoretically. 



