More — On the Flora of Inish-Bofin. bQi> 



lime-loving plants, and also the greater variety of species Tvliich is 

 usually observed upon calcareous soils. Bofin exhibits, as clearly, a 

 series of plants which prefer schistose, granitic or siliceous soils ; 

 indeed, the only two lime-loving species which I observed in Inish- 

 Bofin were Sinapis alba (an introduced weed), and Asplenium ruta- 

 muraria, which grows upon the walls of the ruined church of St. 

 Coleman. 



The only scarce plants common to Aran and Bofin are Calama- 

 grostis epigejos, a true native, and Allium Babingtonii, a leek which 

 was, no doubt, formerly cultivated in many parts of the west of 

 Ireland, as well as in Cornwall. 



The three Aran Isles, with a much larger area than Inish-Bofin, 

 and with a greater extent of coast line, sea-sands, and muddy shore, 

 have hitherto yielded 372 species, to which we may, perhaps, safely 

 add about 40 more, which will give an estimated total of 410 for the 

 whole Aran group. Inish-Bofin itself reckons 303, or with Inish- 

 Turk, 323, and in the silurian group of Inish-Bofin, Inish-Shark, and 

 Inish-Tui'k, it is probable that the whole number does not exceed 

 350. 



"With further exploration, the plants now apparently peculiar to 

 each group will, no doubt, be considerably reduced, so that instead of 

 221 species common to both, these will probably be found to be nearly 

 300, leaving about 50 plants peculiar to the three Isles of Bofin, Shark, 

 and Turk, and about 100 to the Aran group. 



This is, indeed, a very striking difference between the floras of two 

 groups of islands, situated under the same conditions of climate, and 

 separated by a distance of only thirty-five miles, and shows very 

 plainly how much the vegetation is influenced by the nature of the 

 subsoil. 



LIST OP THE PLANTS TOUND IN INISH-BOFIN. 



BaXUjS'CTILACE^ . 



Itanunculiis Baudotii, Godron. — In Church Lake, and in the small lake 

 called Lough-na-brand, on the sand-hills south of the harbour. 



It. trichopliyllus, Chaix. 



R. hederaceus, Linn. — In many places, but we did not observe R. Le- 

 normandi. 



It. flammula, Linn. — Also \qx. pseudo-reptajis, Syme. 



R. acris, Linn. — {tomophyllus, Jordan). — Frequent. 



R. repens, Linn. 



R. huihosus, Linn. — On the sand-liills south of the harbour. 



NrMPH^ACE^. 



Niqjhar lufciim, Sm. — Plentiful in Church Lake. 



