THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



I. — On early Contributions to the Flora of Ireland; with He- 

 marks on Mr. Mackaifs Flora Hibernica. By the Rev. T. 

 D. Hincks, LL.D., M.R.I.A. 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 

 Gentlemen, 



Having met with various remarks which seem to imply a 

 peculiar negligence on the part of the Irish in respect of the 

 Natural History of their country, and these remarks having 

 been repeated without any effort to correct them, may I beg 

 permission through your valuable work to make some state- 

 ments on the subject? As I have for nearly fifty years taken 

 an interest in the botany of Ireland, and as I have had op- 

 portunities of knowing many persons who interested them- 

 selves about it, I hope I may not be deemed unreasonable, 

 especially as I have no claim of my own to bring forward or 

 any wish to speak lightly of the exertions of late botanists, 

 who I believe would not knowingly claim more than they are 

 fairly entitled to. As these remarks were chiefly suggested 

 by Mr. Mackay's Flora Hibernica, or the reviews of it, I beg 

 to acknowledge my own obligation to him for that work, and 

 to express the esteem and regard I have felt for him for more 

 than thirty years that I have had the pleasure of being ac- 

 quainted with him. 



Different opinions are entertained by botanists as to what 

 a local Flora should be. Remarks on the subject have been 

 made by Prof. Henslow*, attention to which might be of 

 much use ; but I cannot blame Mr. Mackay, in the Flora of 

 such an extensive district as Ireland, for having inserted the 

 generic and specific characters, even though he may not have 

 added to those of Sirs J. E. Smith and W. J. Hooker. 



The Flora of a country should however do more, it should 



* Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. i. 

 Ann. $ Mag. Nat. Hist. Sept. 1840. n 



