01 



KNDWi.i.nr.i: 



M\nfii. ]'>\2. 



(.Iisti'iliiitii>ii in Inliind. wIuiims iihtniiil it extends 

 somewhat fiirtluT cast than llic otlicrs do, as far as 

 Swit/irland. 



Two Iji'Miitiftd luatlis inlialiil llic wcstciii |iails of 



•IGIRF. 93. 

 Large-floweicd Hiittcrwort U^inguicula firaiidiflora). West Cork 



the counties of Mayo and Galway, and arc 

 found nowhere else in the British Islands. 

 The first of these, known as the Mediterranean 

 Heath (/iV/a? mediterraiica. see Figure 94), with 

 its prett\' flesh-coloured flowers, grows ahund- 

 antl\' in Portugal and the north-west of Spain, 

 while St. Dabeoc's Heath (Dcihcocia polifolia. 

 see Figure 95), with its elegant large pink 

 bells, has the same range, which extends into 

 south-western France. 



Now among animals, as already remarked, 

 we likewise possess similar instances of species 

 confined to Ireland and the Mediterranean 

 region, or the Spanish Peninsula. Most of 

 these, however, exhibit a less iriarked restric- 

 tion in their range to the western counties. 

 Yet one of the best known examples, the 

 Spotted Slug (Geomctliuiis nuiciilosiis, see 

 Figure 90), has a geographical distribution 

 in Ireland almost identical with that of the 

 Strawberry-tree. On the Continent it is 

 apparently peculiar to northern Spain and 

 Portugal. 



In Dublin and in the south and west of 

 Ireland a large spider is frequenth' noticed, 

 which seems to replace to some extent tin- 

 common house spider. It has been named 

 Tejiciuirui liibcniica. and is not known from 

 Great Britain, though it is closely related to. 

 and i)erhai)S identical with, the Pxrenean 

 Te<>enariii nervosa. 



.\mong the wood-lice there are several 

 species belonging to the same Lusitanian 

 group. The claret-coloured Trichoiiisciis 

 vividiis (see Figure 92), for example, occurs 

 only in Spain and the Pyrenees, as well 



as in tile south of Ireland, i'inally. two s|)eries 

 are confined in Ireland to the Hill of Howth on 

 the cast coast. These are MctdpoiKirtliiis iiiclaiiiinis 

 and liltinui f>iirf>iiriiscL'iis. 



These are onlv a few of thi; luore note- 

 worthy examples of Lusitrmian plants and 

 animals occurring in Ireland and not in 

 Great Britain or even in the north of France. 

 It is quite evident, therefore, that the 

 Lusitanian element in the Irish flora is more 

 significant than Profes.sor Forbes had 

 imagined. .And yet he argued on the strength 

 of his own observations on the habitat of 

 these plants, that the latter could not have 

 I'tcn conveyed bj' either winds or marine 

 1 urrents to the stations they now occupy, 

 which opinion has since been generally adopted 

 by Irish botanists. When wc take into con- 

 sideration the presence in Ireland of such a 

 slug as Gcomalactis iiuiciilosiis, which could 

 certainly not have been carried to Ireland by any 

 ^)f the known means of accidental transport, and 

 whose eggs can neither float in sea-water nor 

 be wafted across the ocean from Spain by winds, 

 the problem is not so readilv solved as some 

 recent authorities seem to imagine. It has been 



L.- 



i-IGURK y4. 

 The Mfditenaneau Heath Ui^nca nuilitciitiiu 



