1854] Hcwth and Ireland's Eye. 45 



bly because the season was rather too early. He described 

 the three islands as connected now through the drainage 

 with the mainland, and with many trees upon them. Cattle 

 were also feeding upon the one nearest Toom, and had 

 apparently cropped off nearly all the rising Carices and 

 grasses ; but I scarcely think they could have prevented 

 the detection of the Carex." (It was gathered in the fol- 

 lowing year by Mr. Joseph Woods.) The botanical notes 

 taken at Lough gall, with Mr. Robinson's valuable assis- 

 tance, were, some years afterwards, embodied in a Paper* 

 which is by general consent the first important contribu- 

 tion to the flora of county Armagh. 



He left Loughgall on the 5th of June, and went with 

 his sister to spend a week by the sea at Howth. In fact 

 his short illness had left him very weak and exhausted, 

 and the sea air and rest were much needed. Howth, with 

 its interesting wild plants and romantic cliif scenery, 

 greatly pleased him, and he writes with enthusiasm in his 

 journal of the lovely view from the summit of the Hill : 

 " The Bay of Dublin, with its wide-extending sand-banks 

 left bare by the tide, the high hills over Kingstown ; on 

 the other side, Lambay, rising high out of the sea, and 

 Ireland's Eye, the silver streak of the Portmarnock strand 

 ending in the hill and point of Malahide, and the beautiful 

 blue sea studded with hookers and steamers a view well 

 worth the labour of scaling the rugged hill ! " 



Two extracts from his diary may be given, in which he 

 records his visits to Ireland's Eye and the "silver strand" 

 of Portmarnock. 



"June yth. Our second day we resolved to spend in 

 exploring Ireland's Eye, and were accordingly ferried over 

 and landed on the sandy beach that occupies its lowest 

 and south-west side. Here we at once recognized our old 

 friend of Hayling Island, Euphorbia paralias (sea spurge), 

 and not far from it the allied E. portlandica. Phleum 

 arenarium (sea cat's-tail grass), Festuca uniglumis, and 

 Rosa spinosissima (burnet rose), we were prepared for, 

 but to find Thalictrum minus (lesser meadow-rue) in such 



* "Localities for Some Plants observed in Ireland" ("Nat. Hist. Review," 

 May, 1860). 



