Clare Island Survey. 



11-12. 

 MUSCI AND HEPATICAE. 



By H. W. LETT. 



Head January 22. Published Febiiuaky 22, 1912. 

 CONTENTS. 



I'AQE | PAGE 



1. The Area, .... I 4. Origin of the Flora, . . 8 



2. Field-woik, .... 5 5. List of the Flora, ... 9 



3. The Flora, .... 6- | 6. Bibliography, . . .17 



1. THE AREA. 



[To avoid a repetition of the introduction of the description of the area, which 

 concerns alike the Mosses and the Hepatics, the reports on these two groups 

 have been run into one. 



It is to be noted that, for the sake of distinction, Achill Island and the 

 peninsula of Gurraun Achill, which are separated from each other by a ver}' 

 narrow strait, are spoken of in this report as constituting a part of the 

 mainland. " The island " invariably means Clare Island.] 



The investigation of the Bryophytes has been carried out over the whole of 

 Clare Island, and on the mainland from Achill Head by Curraun, Mulranny, 

 Newport, Westport, Croaghpatrick, and Louisburgh, to Eoonagh. 



There are no glens on Clare Island ; and the surface is, as a rule, greatly 

 exposed. The wide southern slopes of Croaghmore have a peaty soil, which 

 supports Calluna, Juncus, and some patches of Sphagnum, but few Mosses or 

 Hepatics. The difficulty of the great northern cliffs of Croaghmore, owing to 

 their precipitous character, renders them inaccessible except along a couple 

 of sheep-tracks, where, however, collections were made. There are four 

 streamlets on the landward slopes ; the reaches of these next their sources 

 are remarkably poor in Mosses and Hepatics; and it is only along the 

 portions at a low elevation near their discharge into the sea that any Mosses 

 or Hepatics occur, and there only in well-sheltered nooks and corners. The 

 rain when it falls is quickly carried off by these little channels, which, for 

 R.I. a. proc, voi. xxxi. A 11-12 



