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ON THE HEPATIC^ OF THE HILL OF HOWTH. 

 By DAVID McARDLE. 



(Plates III. and IV.) 



[COMMTTNICATED Br F. W. MOOEE.] 

 [Read Apkil 10, 1893.] 



The Hill of Howth. forms a rocky promontory or peninsula on the 

 north side of Dublin Bay, of which the hill itself occupies the wider 

 portion. It is about two miles in length, by one and a-half in breadth, 

 and rises to 563 feet above sea level, forming a very striking object, 

 and adding greatly to the picturesqueness and beauty of the sea 

 entrance to Dublin. The locality is so widely known, and has been 

 so often described by writers on different subjects connected with 

 natural history, that any attempt at a further description in this 

 paper is unnecessary. 



The flowering plants which may be gathered in their season are 

 so interesting for their rarity and geographical distribution in Great 

 Britain, that the locality has been for many years the hunting ground 

 of eminent botanists. Amongst those who have left records of their 

 observations, I may mention the late Doctors Wade, Mackay, and 

 Moore. Lastly, after many years of collecting and research, Mr. H. 

 C. Hart, in his "Flora of Howth," enumerates 520 species of plants, 

 " which," he writes, " is probably above the average — certainly as 

 regards Ireland — for a district of about four square miles in the 

 British Islands." 



Excepting in the case of the Ferns, the account of the cryptogams 

 is not so complete ; though I am aware that the late Dr. D. Moore 

 paid considerable attention to the mosses, and mentions several genera 

 and species from Howth, in his work on the Mosses of Ireland. The 

 account of the Liverworts was still more unsatisfactory ; and I think 

 that this is the first attempt at a detailed list of these plants that has 

 been made by any person for this locality. It is provisional only, 

 and there are still probably many rare or undescribed Mosses and 

 Liverworts to reward the search of any person engaged in such an 

 interesting study. 



