13 4 Proceeding* of the Royal Irish Acartemji. 



and others arriving as their appropriate matrix is provided for them. To 

 take an instance : some few not very thriving Sycamores have been planted 

 in the hotel garden. These are at present free from the attacks of Ehytisma. 

 But, if they live, they may at some future date add another fungus to the 

 island list. 



The list, as a consideration of it will show, is at present especially 

 incomplete as regards such things as coprophilous fungi and minute Fungi 

 Imperfecti. 



As to the nature of the island, being separated from the mainland by 

 only 3 miles of water, it may, from a mycologieal point of view, almost be 

 regarded as an outlying portion of it. The greater part of the surface is 

 barren heath or bog. Trees are almost everywhere absent. The nearest 

 approach to woodland consists of two small areas of scrub on the X.E. side of 

 the island, where stunted Birch, Hazel, and Sallow predominate. The rest of 

 the area may be roughly divided into — (1) the more or less exposed 

 pastures ; (2) the cultivated area with its rather rank vegetation and weeds. 

 Xo part of the island proved absolutely destitute of fungi. Bight up to the 

 cliff edge at the west end, the Plantago sward yielded Bovuta nigricans and 

 Pkospora hcrbarum. The sea-shore produced several species. One species at 

 least was parasitic on lichens coating the most exposed rocks, and probably 

 others occur on the same hosts. Another fungus was dredged up from the 

 bottom of Clew Bay. 



It would be of little value to attempt to account for the differences 

 between our List for the island and that for the Clew Bay district on the 

 mainland. The great detennining factor, of course, is the presence or absence 

 of woodland. Xo Pine or Beech grow on the island at the present time, 

 and there is only one Oak. It was hoped at one time that a comparison 

 with E. Bostrup's List of fungi occurring in the Faeroes might have proved 

 interesting, as, while differing much in latitude, the Faeroes have much 

 in common with Clare Island, e.g., the absence of trees and the prevalence 

 of wind and moisture during most of the year. But doubts as to the 

 completeness of either list have rendered the undertaking rather disappointing. 

 As E. Warming says (Botany of the Faeroes, vol. ii, p. 661), 168 species can 

 scarcely adequately represent the mycologieal flora of the islands. Yet the 

 few collectors, of whom Warming was one, seem to have shown remarkable 

 acuteness in detecting minute species. Exactly one-fourth of the 168 species 

 belong to the Fungi Imperfecti against one-thirteenth of the Clare Island 

 list. Why are there only 20 Autobasidiomycetae recorded against 136 in 

 our area, 2 Clavariae and 2 Hygrophori only against 14 and 15 respectively ? 

 Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that none of the collectors seems to 



