THE FIELD WOKK Ixxxix 



as it led to the exploration of many districts which might have long 

 remained unvisited by the botanist, and to the finding of a number 

 of interesting plants which otherwise might for years to come have 

 escaped detection. My field-work, indeed, proved exceedingly in- 

 teresting, and it has left behind the pleasantest of recollections. 

 The long summer days spent in the Limestone Plain, where the 

 gentle undulations of the ground only occasionally hid the distant 

 rim of brown and blue hills ; the marshy meadows, heavy with the 

 scent of flowers ; the great brown bogs, where the curlews alone 

 relieved the loneliness ; the bare limestone pavements and gaunt 

 grey hills of Clare and Galway ; the savage cliffs of the Mayo coast ; 

 the flower-filled sand-dunes which fringe the Irish Sea ; the fertile 

 undulations of southern Ulster ; the swift brown current of the 

 Barrow ; the fretted limestone shores of the great western lakes ; 

 the towering cones of the Galtees : all have left memories that can 

 never be effaced. 



Any account of the botanical excursions of the last five years 

 would be out of place here, but brief narratives of the field-work of 

 1897, 1898, 1899, and 1900 will be found in the pages of the " Irish 

 Naturalist."^ Ireland is a delightful country for the pursuit of 

 work in the field. Enclosed or preserved ground is but seldom met 

 with, and the country is free and open. Few rivers but can be 

 forded ; few marshes or bogs but can be crossed ; few precipices but 

 yield their treasures to the mountaineer ; few spots are so remote 

 but they may be visited in a good day's walking from the nearest 

 stopping-place. 



As regards methods employed in the field-work, there is little to 

 be said. With a large vasculum, a "London Catalogue," and the one- 

 inch hill-shaded Ordnance Survey map as my constant companions, 

 progress was smooth and rapid. In marking the catalogues, letters 

 were used to signify not only localities, but the dates on which the 

 localities were visited. Thus, if a place was visited twice, a different 

 letter would be used on the second occasion ; and the particulars 

 relating to any plant could thus at any future time be determined 



1 Vol. VII. 87-103, IX. 135-149, 224-229, x. 29-41. 



