tgis. SchAr^F. — 7 he Clare Is lajtd Survey. l8i 



of the volume, was especially welcome. All these 

 sixty-seven reports contain matter of biological or 

 general interest. Some of them are more complete 

 than others, yet they all may be described as good reports. 

 To discover new species of animals and plants was not 

 one of the main objects of the scheme. Nevertheless the 

 survey has led to the discovery of an astonishing number 

 of new forms of life, especially among the more obscure and 

 less known groups. 



Among the 8,488 species described, no less than 120 

 plants and animals proved to be new to science. Two new 

 families and fifteen genera had to be created in the course 

 of the work connected with their classification, and one of 

 the genera bears the appropriate name " Praegeria." 



The additions which have been made to our knowledge 

 of the fauna and flora of Ireland and of the British Isles 

 are surprisingly large. The reports record the occurrence 

 of 343 species of animals and 55 plants not previously 

 detected within the Britannic area ; while as regards 

 Ireland, 1,253 animals and 585 plants are added to the 

 fauna and flora of our island. 



Many of the reports are models of thoroughness and of 

 painstaking work. Mr. Cotton's paper on the Marine Algae 

 is not only the most complete enumeration of the Seaweeds 

 of a single region which has been published, but the large 

 ecological section of his report represents pioneer work in 

 that comparatively new study. His very complete results 

 were only obtained by means of visits to the district made 

 at all times of the year, winter as well as summer, and by 

 very carefully organized field-work. 



Mr. Praeger's report on the Flowering Plants, which is, 

 like Mr. Cotton's, one of the longest contributions to the 

 series, is occupied largely with a full discussion of the 

 dispersal power of plants, with special reference to dispersal 

 across a barrier such as that offered by the channels which 

 divide Clare Island from the mainland. Mr. Praeger recog- 

 nises that from the time when man began to till the ground 

 and became a keeper of flocks, bis influence upon the native 

 flora made itself seriously felt. By the importation of cattle, 



