Bibliographical Notice, 287 



In the Introduction we have a table of the mean temperature for the 

 four seasons of the year as derived from observations made at sixteen 

 places situated in as many different counties of Ireland, derived from 

 Dr. Lloyd's elaborate essays to be found in the * Transactions of the 

 Royal Irish Academy.' From this it appears that the mean annual 

 temperature differs very slightly from that of South Britain. But it 

 is the temperatures of summer and winter that chiefly affect the cha- 

 racter of the vegetation. The mean of summer heat is 2° (Fahr.) 

 lower in Ireland, and that of the winter is about 2° higher. It results 

 from this that many tender plants will bear the winter of Ireland, 

 especially of the western and south-western counties, which are killed 

 by frost in England ; and a difference is even apparent between the 

 east coast, as at Dublin, and the west : several plants indigenous to 

 the latter suffer much from frost in the Glasnevin Garden. On the 

 other hand, the lower summer temperature and the damper climate 

 render wheat a precarious crop in many parts of Ireland. The mean 

 rainfall is shown for sixteen places : for the whole island it was 30-50 

 inches in the year 1851, but the difference between the least and 

 greatest fall is very great.; at Portarlington it was only 2r23 inches, 

 at Cahirciveen 59*37. The latter place and others which approach 

 the same amount of rainfall are situated on the western coast and 

 receive the full discharge of the clouds from over the gulf-stream 

 when they first touch the mountains. 



The distribution of the native plants depends greatly upon these 

 peculiarities of climate, and the character of the flora is also much 

 affected by them. On the western coast several plants abound which 

 point to the south-west of Europe as their proper home : the Ro- 

 bertsouian Saxifrages, Erica MackaianOy Arbutus Unedo, Babeocia 

 j)olifoliay and Finguicula grandijiora may be mentioned. Plants in- 

 cluded under Mr. Watson's Atlantic type are numerous, 41 out of 

 7(i species being found ; on the other hand, only 18 out of 127 of 

 his Germanic type are natives of Ireland. The Alpine flora is poor ; 

 scarcely more than a third of Watson's Highland species have been 

 found. Indeed we have observed in Ireland, as in the Hebrides, 

 that the vegetation scarcely alters as we ascend a lofty mountain, and 

 that it is unusual to find any plants peculiar to its upper part or to 

 notice the deficiency of the lowland plants at high elevations. 



After the Introduction a vjiluable table, showing the distribution 

 of each plant through the districts, is given. It shows at a glance 

 the absence or presence of the plants from the several parts of the 

 country. It is similar to the tables drawn up by Mr. Watson for 

 Great Britain. 



The bulk of the work is formed of a detailed account of the dis- 

 tribution of each species. We can best point out the mode and ful- 

 ness with which this is done by a short extract taken from the second 

 page of the book. 



** 2. Thalictrum minus (Linn.) — Leaser Meadow-Rue. 



"Districts i-3456789--12 

 " Lat. 51°-56°. From South to North of Ireland. 



