The Irish Naturalist 



November, 



between 300 and 400 feet. The outer coast of this area is 

 occupied by great stretches of sand-dunes, with occasional 

 low projections of rock covered with stony drift. The eastern 

 side, on the other hand, facing Blacksod Ba}', is largely 

 occupied by poor pasture and tillage. Bog vegetation is 

 absent, though peat is dug from below the farmed surface ; 

 and heath is represented only by a miserably starved flora. 

 Trees ^re absent save for a few dwarfed Sycamores, &c., beside 

 a couple of houses. A single small bush of Salix cinerea and 

 one of S. aurita were seen in sheltered nooks at opposite 

 ends of the Mullet. Otherwise gorse and brambles in small 

 quantity are the only native shrubs, save a few low-growing 

 forms like Salix repens. Several shallow lakes occupy 

 depressions on this part of the peninsula. 



In the broader northern end of the Mullet, on the other 

 hand, the ground is higher, the sands give way to rocks and 

 cliffs, and cultivation to wind-shorn moorland, over a con- 

 siderable depth of peat ; and though the greatest elevation is 

 only 434 feet, the flora takes on a mountain character. As 

 one proceeds northward towards Erris Head bare moorland, 

 bounded by sea-cliffs, comes to occupy the whole scene. 



The rocks of the district consist wholly of gneiss, mica 

 schist, quartzite, and granite. The granite is confined to the 

 southern end of the Mullet, where it rises into several low 

 hills. Quartzite occurs at the north end of the Mullet, between 

 Erris Head and Broad Haven. The remainder of the area, 

 including Inishkea, is almost entirely gneiss, half smothered, 

 in the part south of BelmuUet, under blown sand, and in the 

 part north of Belniullet, under peat bog. 



The Cultivated Area. 



The most conspicuous feature of the flora of the ground 

 affected by human operations— fields, banks, and roadsides — 

 is the replacement of mesophile by hydrophile species. Thus 

 Senecio aquaticus brightens the pastures instead of S. Jacobcsa ; 

 the Purple I^oosestrife is everywhere ; and no dry bank is too 

 dry for Hydrocotyle and Anagallis tenella. 



Fields of hay are sometimes filled with Heracleum and 

 Daucus. The tillage is mostly occupied by potatoes and oats, 



