10 20 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



colours here contrast strongly with the bare stony heaths, still almost lifeless, 

 which lie around. A similar but less well-preserved piece of scrub lies in a 

 similar situation west of Lough Avullin. In wetter ground, willow-scrub 

 (S. aurita and S. cinerea) is found here and there — notably in wet, stony 

 fields near Kinnaeorra, where it is associated with Myrica Gale ; but the place 

 is much trampled by cattle and the ground vegetation destroyed. The bulk 

 of the woodland section of the flora of the island is found by mountain 

 rivulets and on cliffs facing towards the north. 



Mooelaxd Vegetation. 



Beyond the limit of cultivation — which on Clare Island is usually not 

 higher than 200 feet, and often descends to sea-level, on account of exposure 

 or absence of soil — the moorland area extends, in its various forms of dry 

 banks, stony heath, marsh, bog, rock, and cliff. On the higher ground (1,000 to 

 1,500 feet) the peat-forming associations are better developed ; and the su mm it 

 of Croaghmore consists partly of heathy and partly of spongy bog. This 

 whole area is, generally speaking, dominated by Calluna, with an admixture 

 of Erica cinerea and E. Tetralix, and other usual ingredients of the familiar 

 Calluna formation ; but, owing to the fact that almost the entire surface has 

 been interfered with by turf-cutting, the natural associations have been much 

 broken up. In the few places where the peat is deep, and the surface undis- 

 turbed, which occurs here and there on the higher grounds (800 to 1,500 feet), 

 Scirpus caespitosus and Cotton-grasses become conspicuous. The result of the 

 irregular turf-cutting is an increase of Eushes, or, where the turf has been 

 removed down to the stony subsoil, of grasses. Where the heathy ground 

 gets wet, Hypericum elodes and Eleocharis multicaulis appear in quantity, and 

 bring with them abundance of Viola palu-stris, Drosera rotundifolia, Potentilla 

 palvstris, Hydrocotyle vulgaris, Menyanthes trifoliata, and Myosotis repens. 

 The characteristic Irish lowland bog flora, with Drosera anglica, Rhynchospora 

 alba, Andromeda Polifolia, is absent as such, on account of absence of suitable 

 habitat ; but the two first-named plants occur, the former in two stations, the 

 principal one being a floating morass around Lough Leinapollbauty, with 

 Carex limosa; the second sparingly in a patch of wet bog near Lough Avullin. 

 The boggy marshes form a connecting link with the pools and bog-holes, 

 which yield Utricidaria minor, Juacus supinus, and Zittorella lacustris. Three 

 little moorland loughs lie in the hollow between Croaghmore and Knockna- 

 veen at 350 feet elevation — Creggan Lough, Lough Leinapollbauty, and Lough 

 Merrignagh. They are bleak and exposed. The third yields Nymphaea alba, 

 and the dredge revealed Nitella transluceus in the first and second. There 



