43 



vestigating the distribution of plants in Ireland, with a grant of 

 money at their disposal towards the expenses incurred. This 

 resulted in the publication, last autumn, of the " Contributions 

 towards a Cybele Hibemica" under the editorship of Dr. D. 

 Moore and Mr. Alexander G. More, both of Dublin. This work 

 was stated to be a great advance on Mackay's Flora Hibemica, 

 published thirty years previously, many species being now added, 

 the range of a large Dumber much extended, whilst others again 

 have come to be better understood. 



A highly instructive sketch was laid before the meeting of 

 the several types of British vegetation, as given by Mr. H. C. 

 "Watson, in his great work, the Cybele Britannica, and by the 

 late Professor Edward Forbes, in his masterly essay on the 

 sources whence the flora of Great Britain and Ireland was de- 

 rived. The prevalence and range of these types were shown, 

 and some leading forms enumerated. One of these types of 

 vegetation, appropriately designated by the authors of the Cybele 

 the Hibernian type, numbers twenty-two species, some of which 

 ally the Irish flora to that of Western Europe. Some other 

 species — the name of which were given — point to a former con- 

 nexion of our plants with the North American flora. As might 

 be expected, these species are found only on our western coast. 

 Other groups of plants derived through England or Scotland 

 connect Irish vegetation with that of France, and that of 

 Scandinavia, while the great mass of the common forms are the 

 same, and had the same origin as the general flora of Great 

 Britain. 



By an outline map of Ireland improvised on the black-board, 

 Mr. Tate's plan for dividing the island into botanical provinces 

 was shown. These provinces would not be merely arbitrary 

 divisions of the country into so many areas, but would corres- 

 pond to those regions where certain well-defined groups of plants 

 prevail — these groups being in the main those of Professor 

 Forbes — these botanical provinces to be sub-divided into smaller 

 districts. By such an arrangement the numerical value of the 

 districts in which any species is found would be a better 

 expression of its prevalence, than that obtained by the plan 

 adopted in the Cybele Hibemica. 



