1902-1903.] 105 



been issued by the Royal Irish Academy. It is interesting to 

 note that our great Northern lake is the first in the British 

 Isles of which the Plankton flora has been investigated. The 

 results are full of interest, and the Belfast Club should be 

 proud that Mr. West derived much assistance in this work 

 from several of its members. The fungi and lichens are 

 examples of great groups which have attracted but little atten- 

 tion in Ireland in recent years. The lichens especially have 

 long been in need of a champion. Since Admiral Jones wan- 

 dered over the Northern kills a century ago collecting these 

 plants the group has been practically unworked. The mosses 

 and hepatics are in a much more satisfactory state, and our 

 knowledge of their distribution in Ireland is tolerably com- 

 plete; but much detailed work remains to be accomplished, 

 and many districts still await exploration. As regards the 

 hepatics, the comprehensive paper which Mr. M'Ardle is pre- 

 paring under the auspices of the Fauna and Flora Committee, 

 will much advance our knowledge, and form a sound and reli- 

 able basis for future work. Northern botanists have borne 

 their full share of the work at these interesting groups. To 

 come finally to the flowering plants and their allies, our know- 

 ledge of the phanerogamic flora of Ireland now compares 

 favourably with that which is obtainable regarding the flora 

 of any country in the world. This is the result of the com- 

 bined efforts of a large number of workers, whose results have 

 been published in '' Cybele Hibernica," second edition, and 

 in " Irish Topographical Botany." In reviewing in detail the 

 most recent progress, the date of publication of the latter work 

 (1901) may be taken as a starting point. Taking the forty 

 botanical divisions of Ireland and the estimated total flora 

 which may be expected in each, we find that an average of 90 

 per cent, represented the state of our knowledge at the end of 

 1900. In the two years that have since elapsed that figure 

 has, by the finding of over 250 plants new to the various 

 counties, been increased to quite 91 per cent., a higher degree 

 of working out than can yet be claimed for either England or 

 Scotland. Mr. Praeger then referred in detail to the more 



