1905. 



197 



NOTES. 



BOTANY. 



The numbering of the Botanical County-Divisions of Ireland. 



The Moss Exchange Club is preparing a Catalogue of Hepaticae show, 

 ing the distribution of these plants in the County Divisions throughout 

 Great Britain and Ireland, after the manner of the London Catalogue of 

 British Mosses. A great practical difficulty has arisen in representing 

 the distribution in Ireland. If the numbers used by Mr. Praeger in 

 Irish Topooraphical Botany are^ used for the Irish county-divisions, then the 

 s-ime numbers will stand for different districts in England and Ireland, 

 and confusion will be sure to result. I think the divisions as arranged 

 by Mr. Praeger are admirable, but that it was a great mistake not to 

 make his numbers to run consecutively with those of Great Britain. 

 We want a numeration which can be used without confusion for the 

 British Isles, Mr. Groves used consecutive numbers in his paper on the 

 distribution of CharacecB, and conchologists have done the same in Adams' 

 Manual of Land and Fresh Water Shells, and Taylor's Monograph. Contrac- 

 tions for the county names have been used in Lett's HepaticcB^ and Rogers' 

 British Kitbi, a troublesome plan not free from confusion where county 

 names begin with the same letter, and which takes no account of divi- 

 sions in a county itself. The ideal plan would be a numeration of English 

 and Irish county-divisions, according to latitude, as was pointed out by 

 ]\Ir. Praeger in his paper on this subject in the Jotirnal of Botany, and 

 Irish Naturalist, February, 1896, but I suppose it is too late in the day to 

 do this. I can see no practical way out of the difficulty but, while adopt- 

 ing the 40 county-divisions of Irish Topographical Botany, to re-number 

 them, and instead of counting from 3 to 40 to count from 113 to 152. It 

 would be useful if a Catalogue were issued of British Flowering Plants, 

 with the county-divisions arranged like the Loudon Catalogue of Mosses. 

 In that case the revision of numbers I advocate would be essential, and 

 the sooner this or some similar plan is carried out the better. 



We owe a debt of gratitude to my friend Mr. Praeger for his labours 

 on the distribution of Irish plants, but I think he was ill advised in the 

 numbers adopted, and that it is not too late to set this right. I shall be 

 glad to know what others think on the subject. 



C. H WaddeIvI.. 



Saintfield, Co. Down. 



SisyrincMum angustifolium in Co. Tipperary. 



When botanizing along the Co. Tipperary shore of Lough Derg on 

 12th June, I found a single specimen of Sisyrinchium a>igustifoliu?n in full 

 bloom on a rocky point at Curraghmore. This place is nearl}^ opposite 

 and about three miles distant from the mouth of the Rossmore river. 



Larne. 



C. J. L11.1.Y. 



