COLGAN’S FLORA OF THE COUNTY DUBLIN 63 
interest in plant-investigation aroused by Watson's laborious com- 
ilation. A few Irish county floras then appeared, evidently in- 
| a 
hose who know s 
Botany already accomplished by Mr. Colgan will expect a good 
book from his pen, and their anticipations will be amply fulfilled. 
justly says, “for a generation the foremost inspirer and guide of 
botanical research in Ireland.’ In a leaflec issued to prospective 
cribers it is stated :—* The of the present work is to 
exhibit in full detail the Ancient and Present State of the Dublin 
ora, if a convenient phrase may rrowed from the title-pages 
of the county, spreading over a period of nine years, to ascertain 
me 
a field for botanical study, to stand in the very first rank amongst 
Irish counties.” 
The ambitious scope of the flora of the county outlined in the 
above is fully justified; and we have an account of the plants of 
the metropolitan county of Ireland, which will serve as a model for 
future local floras to be undertaken by topographical botanists, 
author’s personal in- 
vestigations and unflagging industry. The introd 
original work especially undertaken in the prosecution of his studies 
for the Flora. 
range of plants, a useful feature almost entirely neglected in 
English county floras, with the exception of Lees’s #1. of W. York- 
shire, and White’s Fl. of Perthshire. ‘ Some thousands of aneroid 
observations, checked by the Ordnance Surv . n 
Vertical zones with a fair approach to finality.” ‘The highest point 
in county Dublin is Kippure mountain, the summit of which is 
7549 metres above sea-level, according to the most accurate 
observations. The following eight species are found in the county 
