250 
The Irish Naturalist, 
November, 
qualifying for the latter by a course of practical mechanics at the Inchi- 
core works of the Great Southern and Western Railway. Appointed to 
the Geological Surve}^ of Ireland in 1863, he entirely surveyed six of the 
one-inch maps, and, in conjunction with other members of the Survey, 
seventeen others ; and though his earliest work was carried on over forty 
years ago, it has borne the test of time, none of his lines having since 
been altered. Some of the districts he completed, such as Lough Conn, 
Sheet 64, and the Pettigo area. Sheet 32, were of a very complicated 
character. His latest Irish work was in north-eavSt Antrim, which was 
specially allotted to him on account of his practical knowledge of the 
coal and iron deposits. It is especially satisfactory to note that recent 
exploration of the Ballycastle coalfield has entirely justified his mapping 
of the district, and the sections he plotted. In 1874 Symes was one of the 
Secretaries of the Section of Geological Science at the meeting of the 
British Association in Belfast, and in 1878 filled a similar position to the 
Section of Mechanical Science at the meeting in Dublin. Upon the com- 
pletion of the Geological One-inch Map of Ireland he was transferred to 
the Geological Survey of Scotland, where he surveyed several sheets of 
the one-inch maps of the Argyll districts ; his descriptive memoirs of the 
areas he surveyed were interesting and clear, and his mapping and 
draftsmanship of more than ordinary merit. He was an ardent sports- 
man, and as a shot or at casting a fly, had few equals. He took a keen 
interest in the fauna of the districts in which he was successively 
engaged, and there was no better practical authority on the birds and 
fishes of Ireland. 
Injuries sustained from a car accident whilst engaged surveying the 
country near Campbeltown, Argyleshire, shattered a previously robust 
frame, and he was ultimately carried off after only a few days illness. 
R. C. 
REVIEWS. 
LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE BRITISH FLORA. 
British Floweringr Plants. By W. F. Kirby, F.L.S., F.E.S. 
Pp. 8 + 216. 120 coloured plates. lyondon : Sidney Appleton. 
1906. 
"Is things what they seem, or is visions about ?" One must be excused, 
in noticing this book, for taking refuge with Truthful James. On opening 
the pages of Mr. Kirby's " British Flowering Plants" casually, we are 
confronted with portraits of Rhamnus alpina and Cytisiis capitattis, plants 
which are unknown in Britain even as garden escapes. And on trying 
again, we find ourselves face to face with Epilobium Dodoncei and Trapa 
nutans. Turning in some bewilderment to the preface for an explanation 
pf these startling introductions into the British flora, we find a guileless 
