INTEODUCTION. Ivii 



Paper read before the Dublin IJiiiversity Zoological and Botanical 

 Association in 1859.' To avoid conlusion, the word 'district' has 

 been selected here to denote these botanical divisions, the word 

 ' province,' used by Watson in his Cylele Britannica for a similar 

 purpose, being applied ia Ireland to the larger political divisions 

 of the country, known as Ulster, Leinster, Munster, and Connaught. 

 In Babington's original scheme the Irish divisions were numbered 

 ■consecutively with the British, from XIX. (South Atlantic) to 

 XXX. (Ulster Coast). For good reasons, however, these numbers 

 were rejected by the authors of the first edition of this work in 

 favour of the separate series from I. to XII., which has been 

 adhered to in the present edition. In area, the Irish districts, 

 which are set out below in one general view, correspond much 

 more closely to "Watson's sub-provinces than to his provinces.' 



' mints towards a OybeU Hihernica.—'Sia.t. Hist. Eev., vi., 1859, p. 533. 



"In preparing this tabular view of the Irish Districts and their Floras, 

 Hooker's Student's Flora of the British Isles, 3rd Ed., has been taken as 

 standard for tho Hawkweed species, while the fructicose Eubi have been 

 ■counted as a single species occurring in all the Districts. 



