60 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



the distribution of plants in Ireland, since (fig. 62) tliere is everywhere 

 a sufficiency. But the limit of the Connacian type (fig. 51) wiU be 



Fig. 62. — Annual lainfall. 



seen to correspond with that of the wet west-of-the-Shannon district 

 of Ireland, while the driest area is included in that which marks the 

 range of the Lagenian and most of the English type species. There 

 is even a dry area around Galway Bay which no doubt helps to 

 produce the remarkable aggregation of "English " and " Germanic " 

 species in north Clare. But the facts are not yet brought together, nor 

 the observations made which will enable us to determine how far the 

 present distribution of plants is effected by climatic causes. IS'or is 

 this the only direction in which work is required. "We can never hope 

 to understand oui- phyto-geography till its problems have been attacked 

 by the historical method. Yet the history of the Irish flora is still an 

 absolutely un worked field. The records lie buried below our peat 

 bogs and superficial deposits, and their elucidation will furnish evidence 

 of the highest importance. No branch of Irish botany has more 

 pressing claims on the field botanist than this. 



