SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



29 



MOSSES AND HEPATICS OF MOURNE MOUNTAINS. 

 By Rev. H. \V. Lett, M.A., M.R.I. A. 



'T^HE Mourne Mountains in the County Down 

 have been introduced to the readers of 

 Science-Gossip (Science-Gossip, 1895, p. 85) as 

 worthy of a visit from tourists who are phanero- 

 gamic botanists. But they are even still more 

 worthy of the attention of students of the crypto- 

 gamic flora of this country, as I hope in some 

 measure to show in this paper. 



Mosses, hepatics, lichens, fungi, fresh-water 

 algae, desmids and diatoms abound in and about 

 the Mournes The whole district is a veritable 

 happy hunting-ground for such. It is not too 



done. , Mr. Templeton, of Belfast, a well-known and 

 accomplished botanist and zoologist at the begin- 

 ning of the present century, made some notes on 

 the mosses and hepatics which will be found in the 

 North-East of Ireland — "Flora" and Supplement 

 (published in 1888-95) — while in recent years Mr. 

 S. A. Stewart, F.B.S.E., of Belfast, editor of this 

 "Flora"; the Rev.C. H.Waddell.Mr. J. J. Andrew, 

 and the present writer, have collected mosses and 

 hepatics in various parts of these mountains, A 

 large portion of the results of their work is 

 recorded in the above-mentioned " Flora," and in a 



A'. Ji'clch, Photo.] 



Newcastle and Slieve Donard. 



[Hcljuit. 



much to assert that in no other part of the 

 kingdom are so many species, more especially of 

 the first two families just mentioned, to be found 

 within easy access of a railway station and 

 excellent hotel accommodation. 



There are extensive sand-dunes, several miles of 

 sea-side rocks, wooded glens through which tumble 

 mountain streams, wild stretches of boggy moor- 

 lands intersected by long deep valleys with their 

 rivulets, and elevations — more or less rugged— up to 

 2,796 feet altitude, with a few lakelets. So that 

 every variety of suitable habitat for these lovely 

 forms of vegetation exists v/ithin the area. 



The investigation of the cryptogams of this 

 district has not been altogether neglected in the 

 past, though doubtless there is still much to be 



July, 1896.— No. 26, Vol. III. 



" Report on the Mosses, Hepatics, and Lichens of 

 the Mourne Mountains," by H. W. Lett, read before 

 the Royal Irish Academy, and published in the 

 "Proceedings" of that body in 1S90 (pp. 265-326). 

 As I still have a few copies of this Report to spare, 

 I shall be glad to post one to any person sending 

 me his address with two-pence for carriage. It 

 contains a full list of all the localities. 



Some of the fungi have been recorded in a " List 

 of the Fungi of the North of Ireland," by H. \V. 

 Lett, published in the " Proceedings "of the Belfast 

 Naturalists' Field Club, Appendix, 1SS4-85. And I 

 may mention that INIr. W. West, of Bradford. 

 Yorkshire, has, from time to time, examined 

 squeezes and scrapings which I sent him from the 

 Mournes, and furnished me with a list of the fresh- 



