ON THE 

 FAIJXA OF 



rp:shmi]lance of the 



Il^EEAND TO THAT OF 

 P1-:X INSULA. 



FLORA AND 

 THE SPANISH 



Bv K. 1-. SCHAKl'l'. I'li.l). 



i-.r..s. 



Till-: late Edward Forbes long ago drew attention to 

 the remarkable fact that in the south-west and west 



Figure 90. 



The Spotted Slug {Geoinalacus inaciilosus) and a Map 

 showing its distribution. 



of Ireland there exists an 

 assemblage of plants which 

 do not occur elsewhere in 

 the British Islands, although 

 apparently native in the 

 north of Spain. Several 

 writers have subsequentl\- 

 commented on this feature 

 in the Irish flora. Not many 

 plants belong to this " Lusi- 

 tanian element '" in our flora, 

 vet the\' are sufficiently 

 recognisable to have attracted 

 the notice of every observant 

 botanist who has visited 

 Ireland. Since Professor 

 Forbes wrote his well-known 

 essay on this subject,* a few 

 species of plants unnoticed 

 by him have been added to 

 this Lusitanian flora: and 

 what is more remarkable, it 

 has been discovered that 

 there are also a lew animals 

 which possess a similar 

 geographical distribution. 

 This peculiarit\- in the Irish 

 flora and fauna has thus 



acqinred (piite an exceptional interest anioi 

 naturalists. One of the most conspicuous plants 

 the neighbour- 

 hood of Killarney, 

 in the south-west 

 of Ireland, is the 

 Strawberrv - t ree 

 {Arbutus iiiudoK 

 a bi'antifiil cvir- 

 green busln ti'ee, 

 bearing in the 

 earl y w inter 

 pretty red globu- 

 lar berries, which 

 have given rise to 

 its popular name. 

 FreijuentK rulti- 

 vated in gardens 

 in the south of 

 England, it only 

 grows wild, out- 

 side the Irish 

 boundaries, in the 

 Spanish Pen in- F 



sula, along the Triclioniscu 



In land. Sp; 



vividiis, found in 

 and the Pvrenees. 



Rliopiilontcsitc 



FiGLKli yi. 



tardy i and a Map showing 

 Is distribution. 



borders of the Mediterranean 

 ami in the extreme south- 

 west of France. A much 

 commoner plant, though less 

 noticea.ble, is the well-known 

 London Pride of English 

 gardens {Saxifniga tniihrosa). 

 Like the last it is only native 

 in Ireland, where it grows in 

 abundance in many of the 

 southern and western 

 counties. On the Continent 

 it is onl\- known from the 

 Spanish Peninsula and the 

 P\renees. 



.\ closely allied Saxifrage 

 {t>ij.\ifni^i<a gciiiii), differing 

 from the last in the shape 

 of its leaves, has a similar 

 foreign range, and is confined 

 in the British Islatids to the 

 mountains of Kerry and 

 Cork. The large - flowered 

 Butterwort (Pingiiicula 

 gnindiflora, see Figure 93)+, 

 has the same geographical 



Forbes, F.-" On the connection between the distribution of the existing fauna and flora of the British Isles «.th the 



geological changes which have affected their area." ' Geological Memoirs, Vol. I, 1846. 



t I am indebted to mv friend Mr. K. Welch, of Belfast, for the photographs illustrating this article. 



