272 Royal Irish Academy. 



Tunis, with a north-east aspect. It is situated at the foot of Djebel 

 Bou Kournein, a hill rising from the sea, and attaining a height of 

 589 metres. Its slope promised to give a good notion of the plants of 

 the district, while a fine view of the surrounding country could be had 

 from the summit. A mule-path was found mounting by many a zig- 

 zag from the village to the top ; the slopes were not very steep _; and 

 the greater portion was covered with herbage. The ground was in 

 many places deeply scored by water courses, the result of heavy rains, 

 which left large blocks of stone exposed. The most striking plants 

 were shrubs of Pistacia lentiscus, Cistus incanm, Myrtus communis, 

 Erica arlorea, Jasminum fruticans, Rosa canina, while Melilotus Indica, 

 Psoralea lituminosa — this latter quite a handsome plant — were inter- 

 mingled. Carpeting the surface between all these were Thymus 

 capitatus, Hedysarum Spinossissima and Tordylium apulium, the two 

 latter very striking from their fine fruits. About the summit of the 

 first knoll, colonies of Cynomorimn coccineum gave a pink tinge to the 

 ground. 



But the most remarkable find was about half way towards the 

 summit, where some lovely plants of Cyclaminus Persica Mill ( C. lati- 

 folium Sibth. & Sm., C. Punicum Doum.), were found growing in 

 shady nooks. The flowers were pink, with a darker zone at the 

 throat of the corolla. Some were almost pure white ; the leaves were 

 as fresh as the flowers. The first specimen trowelled up showed the 

 flower stalks straight, not rolled, and there could be no doubt that the 

 specimens were those of the Persian Cyclamen. The flowers were 

 delicately perfumed. I do not think that it would be possible to con- 

 found this species with Cy. Africana Boiss., which I had collected 

 when in Algiers in 1870. This latter is an autumn flowering form 

 (October-January), the flowers appearing before the leaves. Thinking 

 that I had found an addition to the flora of ^orth Africa, I took some 

 specimens for the Trinity College Herbarium; but on my return I 

 found the record of Cy. Punicum Pomel (Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 1889, 

 p. 354), which by Battandier (" Flore del'Algerie," 1890, p. 720) was 

 placed as a synonym of Cy. latifolium Sibth. & Sm., and Cy. Persicum 

 Hort, from " Frontiere tunisienne." The description left no doubt 

 but this was the plant I had found. No specimen, however, is 

 to be found in Cosson's Herbarium, from Tunis, so his record 

 must remain uncertain. When going over the species of Cyclamen 



