229 



THE FIvORA OF THE MUI.I.ET AND INXSHKEA. 



BY R. i,i,OYD peakge;r. 



Raii^way extension has brought most of the remoter parts of 

 Ireland within easy reach of the scientific traveller and 

 unscientific tripper, but the wild mountain district of Erris, 

 and storm-swept peninsula of the Mullet, still maintain much 

 of their ancient isolation 



Forty miles of road, running for the most part through bog 

 and heath untouched by the hand of man, still separate Bel- 

 mullet, the tiny town which is the capital of a barony of nearly 

 400 square miles, from the nearest railway station. 



This almost treeless and fenceless district is interesting to 

 the botanist chiefly from its being the head-quarters of Erica 

 mediterranean the beautiful Iberian-Irish heath. Aj; Dr. David 

 Moore wrote: — "To find a district of at least a quarter of a 

 million of acres in extent covered with this lovely heath, in 

 full bloom, during the second week in April, forms perhaps 

 the most remarkable botanical feature the British Islands can 

 afford." Apart from this, a high interest attaches to the flora 

 of an area so primitive and undisturbed by human industry, 

 especially when situated on the extreme edge of the Eurasian 

 continent. This view was evidently taken by A. G. More 

 when he wrote to S. A. Stewart in 1883 : — " Erris in BelmuUet, 

 the Mullet, and Binghamstown, and round the large lake 

 Garrowmore, is a promising district ... If you prefer to 

 leave your own ground, I should say take either Belmullet 

 and Erris, including the Mullet ; or the north of Eimerick 

 . . . Either of these two districts, viz. : — N. Eimerick and 

 N. Kerry, or Erris and Belmullet, would be well worth 

 attention."^ 



Up to the present our knowledge of Erris botany has been 

 scanty. The only portion of the district that can be said to 

 have been botanically examined at all is the peaks of the 

 Nephin Beg range, which rise along the south-eastern boun- 

 dary of the barony. These have received attention from Dr. 

 Moore, from H. C. Hart, and from N. Colgan and Bishop 

 D'Arcy, and their alpine flora is now well known. 



1 "Ivife and Letters" of A. G. More, p. 301. 



