XVlll 



INTEODUCTION 



down in " Cybele Hibernica" as in round numbers 1000 species 

 and sub-species of native and fully naturalized plants, as against 

 1420 in England and Wales or 1480 in Great Britain. Beckoned 

 on the standard of the " London Catalogue," 9th edition (1895), 

 this 1000 species would be increased to about 1160 ; and inter- 

 mediate figures may be arrived at, according to the degree of 

 "lumping" or "splitting" awarded to certain notorious genera, 

 and also to the interpretation of the term "fully natm-alized." As 

 enumerated in the following pages, the flora of Ireland numbers 

 1019 species, or 1138 species and sub-species ; the former figure 

 being arrived at by grouping the plants printed in italics in the 

 body of the work under their natural aggregates. 



Watson's Types. — The division of the Irish flora into the various 

 types of Watson's " Cybele Britannica," and the comparison of the 

 groups thus formed with the similar groups in the sister island, 

 are matters which are so fully dealt with in " Cybele Hibernica " 

 that they need not be rehearsed here ; the three years which have 

 elapsed have brought forth nothing to materially affect the statistics 

 there given, or the deductions drawn from those statistics. The 

 following table, taken from " Cybele " (p. xlii), wiU remind the reader 

 of the features which such a comparison brings forth : — 



Type.* 



Number in 



England and 



Wales. 





Number 



in 

 Ireland. 



Britisli, . . . . 



644 



536 



or 



98 per cent. 



English, . . . . 



381 



246 



or 



64-5 „ „ 



Scottish and Intermediate, 



98 



62 



or 



63-3 „ ,, 



Highland, 



67 



41 



or 



61-2 „ „ 



Atlantic, . . . . 



62 



34 



or 



55-0 „ „ 



Germanic, 



102 



12 



or 



11-7 „ „ 



through S.M.N. Britain. 

 S. or S.M. Britain. 



The Types " may be briefly defined thus ; 



1 . British Type — species widely spread 



2. English Type — species chiefly seen : 



3. Scottish Type— species chiefly seen in N. or in N.M. Britain.' 

 Intermediate Type — species chiefly seen in Mid. Britain. 



4. Highland Type — species chiefly seen about the mountaios. 

 ■5. Germanic Type — species chiefly seen in East England. 



6. Atlantic Type — species chiefly seen in "West England. 

 Local species, restricted to single or few provinces." 

 — "Watso-nt : " Compendium to the Cybele Britannica," p. 23. 



1870. 



