Hart — PkiiUs of some of the Mountain Ranges of Ireland. 219 



extreme grandeur, bound on three sides by lofty precipices, and with 

 a depth and sea frontage of about half a mile. A couple of squatters 

 had here (Arraghglin) the bleakest shepherds' homes I have yet seen ; 

 no road or even track leads to them, and there is no approach except 

 over the Bandon ridge, whose nose I had now rounded. On these 

 headlands by a brook I gathered J^quisetum sylvaticum, and in the most 

 exposed places here, as all along the west coast of Ireland, Scilla jiutans 

 thrives. 



A long and laborious climb of several hours' duration, rendered 

 worse by a growing mist of rain which obscured the vision in all 

 directions, brought me round Brandon Head at altitudes varying from 

 500 to 1200 feet. At Beenaman (1238 feet, Ord. Survey), I gathered 

 Saxifraga Mrsufa, in company with Sedum rliodiola. A little 

 farther west, on the face of some masses of rock looking seawards, at 

 1180 feet above sea-level, I found a couple of luxuriant plants of 

 Oxyria reniformis on the neck of a rocky promontory. This is not an 

 instance of an alpine species being carried down by a stream, and is an 

 unusually low level for this plant to occur at. It is probably, how- 

 ever, accidental, and due to a gale of wind or some such cause. On 

 the low coast west of Tiduff, Sedum rJiodiola occurs abundantly to sea 

 level. Along here, Kceleria cristata, Schoenus nigricans, Poly gala de- 

 pressa were frequent near the sea, and in waste places a little inland 

 on the lowlands west of Brandon. Bartsia viscosa is the commonest 

 weed. Here, too, I gathered the upright form of Mentha pulegium 

 in ditches by the roadside. Along the road, as I walked to Dingle, 

 I noted Anthemis nohilis and Senehiera didynia. 



On the 9th I crossed the Brandon Bidge, between Ballysitteragh, 

 and examined the chain of lakes on the eastern side. Lough DufP, 

 Lough Gal, and others. It was a day of blinding rain. On the way 

 up the w(!stern slopes, I gathered Euphorbia hylerna ; and above 

 Lough Duff, SymeyiO'phillimi tunlrigense, Car ex Icevigata, Geum rivale, 

 Sieracium anglicum, and others of less interest. In the lakes, Isoetes 

 lacustris occurs ; and along their margins, Carex paniculata, C. ovalis, 

 Sp>urganium minimum, and Scirpusfluitans. Near Cloghane. by a road- 

 side rivulet, Althaa officinalis' grows sparingly. I noted it elsewhere 

 in the neighbourhood as a cottage-garden plant ; and it had, no doubt, 

 escaped here by some accident. 



On the 10th July I finally left Cloghane. The mountains were 

 enveloped in a heavy cloud, more and more aqueous as I ascended. 

 In order to avoid loss of time, I accepted the offer of a moun- 

 taineer I met on the way to accompany me, and bring me the 

 quickest way to the largest loughs under Brandon Peak to its east. 

 The first lough. Lough Cruttia, lies at about 700 feet above sea 

 level. Between it and Lough Nalacken, Sagina suhdata grows in 

 company with Saxifraga stellaris and Sedum rhodiola. Higher up, at 

 the base of the clitfs, I met with Janiperus nana very sparingly, and 

 Plantago maritima. The surface here is a desolate scene of bare rocks 

 and boulders, lying on an equally bare floor of polished and ice- worn 



