292 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



of Howth, where it grows on a warm ditch bank, facing the south, and 

 produces ripe fruit in April. 



I have now to observe an addition which our acute member, Captain 

 Hutton, has made in Mosses. Weissa mucronata (Br. et Sch.) was col- 

 lected by him during the present spring at Eathmullen, county of 

 Donegal, and has not, that I know of, been previously noticed in Ireland. 

 It is a very minute species, and easily overlooked, so that it may not be 

 so scarce as might appear from being so long before being recognised. 



The last species of moss I shall notice at present is Campylopus set if o- 

 lius ("Wilson), which was discovered a good many years ago, by the late 

 Dr. Taylor, growing on Carrig Mountain, county of Kerry. Mr. Wilson 

 described the plant, and published it in his " Bryologia Britannica"," 

 from Dr. Taylor's specimens ; but it had not been seen by any botanist 

 subsequently, until I met with it at Cromaglown, Killarney, three 

 years ago, and also very sparingly in the county of Wicklow. Mr. 

 Hunt, of Manchester, collected it in considerable abundance and in 

 very fine condition, at Cromaglown last year, and has distributed it 

 pretty freely among muscologists. It is a dioecious species, and the 

 Irish plants appear to be all females. The male plant has been, I 

 believe, discovered by Mr. Hunt in one of the northern islands of 

 Scotland. 



I have now to notice the new Orchidaceous plant, Neotinea intacta 

 (Beichenbach), which was discovered last year growing at Castle Taylor, 

 county of Galway, by Miss More, of the Isle of Wight. Being desirous to 

 get plants of it for the Botanic Garden, and specimens to supply to 

 correspondents, I went to Castle Taylor on the 1st of last month, to try 

 if I could rediscover it. After searching two days over a considerable 

 space of country, lying in its primitive wildness, with large blocks of 

 limestone rocks scattered in profusion over it, some in situ, more lying 

 loosely about, I was fortunate enough to meet a few plants of Neotinea. 

 There was only one solitary example in a flowering condition; the 

 others were fast withering up, and getting into a quiescent state for the 

 remainder of the season. The few plants observed were growing within 

 a dozen yards of each other, and not a single one could be seen else- 

 where, though the ground was diligently searched for it in every 

 direction. The plants which grow in greatest abundance on the space 

 of country I have described, and near the Orchid, are the following : — 

 The spring Gentian, Gentiana verna, in considerable quantities, adorn- 

 ing the otherwise barren-looking country, with its lovely bright azure- 

 blue flowers ; Sesleria coerulea, the blue moor grass, is the principal 

 species of grass which grows in that neighbourhood, and was also in 

 flower at that early period of the season. Dryas octopetala, Arbutus 

 uva-ursi, and Geranium sanguineum, are the other plants which were 

 observed in greatest abundance among the rocks. The Bee Orchis, 

 Ophrys apifera, and the Fly Orchis, Ophrys muscifera, have both been 

 found in the same locality with the Neotinea, but it was too early to see 

 them at the time I visited the place. 



