12 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



or 2000 foot contour line be taken, "Wicklow and South. Kerry far 

 outstrip any other portion of the countiy : yet both fall below the 

 maximum of alpine plants, which is carried off by West Galway, and 

 the two divisions of Donegal. The distribution of Mgbland ground 

 is in fact no criterion of the distribution of the highland flora. The 

 amount of high ground in western Ireland (Kerry to Donegal inclusive) 

 is about the same as that in eastern Ireland : but the collective 

 Highland flora of the western half is double that of the eastern. 

 If we want to get an analogue of the distribution of the alpine flora 

 we will turn to the Scottish type map (fig. 2), and will at once see 

 many points of resemblance. The distribution of these two allied 

 groups is distinctly similar, the bulk of the species which compose 

 them inhabiting chiefly the hilly grounds of the north and west, and 

 being but sparsely spread over the east and south-east, and also of 

 course over the centre. 



Those " Highland " plants which occur in the east, as on the 

 Mourne and Wicklow mountain ranges, are usually truly alpine in 

 habitat ; in the west a change of conditions is clearly shown by the 

 frequent descent of alpines to sea-level, and by the ascent of maritime 

 plants to high elevations (such as Cochlearia officinalis, Silene maritima, 

 Armeria maritima, Plantago maritima) which are absent on the eastern 

 mountains. 



Leaving for the present the distribution in Ireland of "Watson's 

 latitudinal types, we must briefly consider those which are by their 

 definition longitudinal — namely, the Germanic and Atlantic types. 



5. Germanic Type : "Plants chiefly seen in East England." — This 

 is a special gi'oup of English type plants, segregated and separately 

 classed on account of their marked aggregation towards the south-east. 

 As "Watson points out, the Cretaceous deposits lie almost exclusively 

 in the eastern and south-eastern provinces of England, so that the 

 " chalk plants " fall within this type. 



As examples of the Germanic type Watson names 



Fraiikema laevis. Pulicaria vulgaris. 



Anemone Pulsatilla. Lactuca Scariola. 



Reseda lutea. Atriplex pedunculata. 



Silene conica. Aceras anthropophora. 



noctiflora. Spartina stricta. 

 Pimpinella magna. 



Of these, only one, Pimpinella magna, is certainly native in Ireland ; 

 of the rest, two alone. Reseda lutea and Silene noctiflora, are included 

 in the Irish flora, marked as doubtfully indigenous. 



