84 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



Odynerus trimarginatus. 

 Apis mellifica. 



,, (var. Liguria). 



, , mellifica. 



„ (var. domestica). 



Mr. ¥m. Andrews then made the following communication : — 



On some Irish Saxifrages. 



Of the Robertsonian saxifrages which constitute the geum and 

 umbrosa forms, the most remarkable varieties occur, and which had 

 been separated by British botanists into geum, elegans, dentata, Mrsuta, 

 umbrosa, punctata, and serrata. These, however, all resolve into two 

 species — umbrosa and geum. The forms of the leaves of the varieties 

 are extremely beautiful. Some are of large size, much elongated and 

 deeply serrated, coriaceous, and of a dark green ; others almost orbi- 

 cular, with fine serrations, and again deeply serrated. 



It has been stated that those of the Pyrenees are peculiarly distinct, 

 and that the forms found in Ireland are by no means identical or pos- 

 sessing the same characteristics — that the truly blunt crenate variety 

 does not exist in Ireland. I should say that all the forms of the lio- 

 bertsonia saxifrages found in Ireland, in the south-west parts, at certain 

 elevations, are identical with those of similar ranges of elevation in the 

 Pyrenees, and that the species which I now submit are similar in form 

 with those found on the Western Pyrenees and on the mountain ranges 

 of Portugal. 



The singular fact of the peculiarly distinct varieties of form of the 

 saxifrages may arise from their proximity to each other. In testing 

 experiments with the seeds of umbrosa, I have found that the greater 

 number of the seedling plants assumed the geum form. All the 

 varieties retained their character permanently when cultivated from 

 offsets. 



In the second edition of the British Plora, by Sir "William Hooker, 

 the subject of the saxifrages, although fully given, is cautiously dilated 

 on, especially with reference to the hypnoid family ; and the obser- 

 vations of subsequent years have verified the views that were certainly 

 then formed — that the opinion of botanists were very variable as to 

 what is and what is not a species. The common form of Saxifraga 

 ■umbrosa of the western parts of Ireland varies from the true umbrosa 

 of the Pyrenees, the former having the leaves obovate, with sharp 

 cartilaginous notches, the latter with the leaves obovate, retuse, and 

 cartilaginously crenated (Lapeyrouse, Figures de la More des Pyrenees, 

 Tab. 22-).* All the forms of geum found in Ireland are identical with 

 those of the western parts of Spain and Portugal. 



* The provincial name of umbrosa has been erroneously given in botanical works, 

 terming it St. Patrick's Cabbage, the true appellation being Cabafste maidhre, Fox's 

 Cabbage, madadh ruadh meaning the Red dog. 



