Hart — On the Flora of South - West Donegal. 445 



Several other iiitorestiug northern and western, hut more ahnndant, 

 species were noticed along this river — a rapid stream, with many pretty 

 reaches between high limestone banks. On the immediate margin of 

 the lake, along the western side, Milium effusum, Car ex Jil if or mis, and 

 Ilieracium wnbellatum were gathered, the latter, with Eq^ui&etum varie- 

 gatum, being abundant in several places. At the north-eastern end I met 

 with Carum verticillatmn in some quantity — an important discovery. 

 Sieracium anglicum was found at the south-east end, while S. umhel- 

 latum is common. Thrincia hirta, Eleocliaris pauciflora, Sesleria 

 ccerulea, and Sagina subulata, occurred here also. In the Ardnamona 

 woods, after a careful and deliberate search, I succeeded in discovering 

 the Killarney fern, TrieJiomanes radicans, a stunted but healthy form. 

 I should hardly have sought it so carefully had it not been already 

 found in the Poisoned Glen, and I felt sure that if it occurred any- 

 where in the county, Lough Eske would have a claim to put in. In 

 these woods I met with the rare Cephalanthera ensifolia, which was 

 origiaally discovered here by Mrs. Brooke of Lough Eske. I found 

 here in one open glade great profusion of Epipactis palustris, very rare 

 in the north of Ireland. E. latifolia is abundant, sometimes 3 feet 

 high, and varying to E. media, Fries. ; Prunus padus, Polypodium plie- 

 gopteris, Symenopkyllum tunhridgense, Lastrea spinulosa, and, on the 

 outskirts, Carex pallescens, all occur here. Below Lough Eske Castle 

 Miss Young informed me she gathered Elatine hexandra, and near this 

 is the locality whence that ill-fated botanist, Mr. Corry, recorded Me- 

 lampyrum sylvaticum. I could not re-discover it. A good many of 

 the foregoing species have not previously been found in Donegal. 



St. JoHisf's Point, Donegal Bay. 



St. John's Point is the extremity of a low, narrow limestone pro- 

 montory, stretching out in a. south-westerly direction about six miles 

 into Donegal Bay from its northern shore. It is seldom half a-mile in 

 width, and its greatest elevation is 150 feet. The pasturage of this 

 spit of land is superb, and cattle attain a condition here which I am told 

 they cannot maintain when transferred to any neighbouriag grazing. 

 A main ingredient in the feed is the " blue grass," Sesleria 

 ccerulea, which is confined to the limestone, and appears to be highly 

 nutritive. The limestone pastures about Ballyshannon and Brown 

 Hall, famous for their beef, abound with this grass also. On the sides 

 of this promontory Trifolium medium and Parnassia palustris are very 

 common. At the extremity is an almost isolated patch of rocky land 

 from two to three miles in circumference on which stands the light- 

 house. The limestone here is intersected with fissures and cracks, and 

 forms long low terraces in the same manner as that of the Aran 

 Ishmds in Galway Bay, and my hopes of finding a similar flora were 

 not altogether disappointed. The following species, several of which 

 are new to the county, were tolerably plentiful : — Euonymus europceus, 



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