vi PEEFACE 



this remained my object until the field-work was well advanced. 

 It then became evident that the information which was accumu- 

 lating would justify a further extension of the scheme, and would 

 frequently allow of an attempt to intimate, in the briefest possible 

 terms, the distribution or frequency of each species in each division. 

 Thus the aggregate records for the county-divisions, prefaced by 

 the description of the divisions in the Introduction, may be said 

 to form forty exceedingly condensed county Floras. 



This work may fairly be described as a companion to "Cybele 

 Hibernica." Its aim is to supply detailed information of such a 

 kind, and in such a form, as lay outside the scope of that book. 

 It was the publication of the second edition of "Cybele Hibernica" 

 that made "Irish Topographical Botany" a possibility. In the 

 absence of the immense amount of critical sifting, of sweeping 

 away of errors, and settling of innumerable doubtful points, which 

 the editors of "Cybele" accomplished, it would not have been 

 possible to have produced the present work, at least single-handed, 

 and in a period of five years. Furthermore, the publication of 

 " Cybele " allowed the present work to be largely curtailed, and 

 to include, so far as was consistent with its scheme and purpose, 

 only additional matter; the reader being referred to "Cybele" 

 for information which it would have required further time to 

 acquire, and further space to publish. 



Neither could "Irish Topographical Botany" have been brought 

 to its present state of completeness without the generous assistance 

 which I have received from many fellow-botanists. The value of 

 their contributions will appear from the notes on " The Field- 

 work " in the Introduction, and from the body of the book. The 

 publication of the records with which they have supplied me is in 

 many cases the only acknowledgment I can make. The valuable 

 lists compiled specially for the purposes of the present work by 

 Prof. J. W. Carr, m.a., f.l.s. ; Nathaniel Colgan, m.r.i.a. ; Miss 

 M. C. Knowles; Mrs. Leebody; Rev. E. S. Marshall, m.a., f.l.s.; 



