1905. Pkakger. — The Flora of the Mullet and Inishkca. 235 



dunes near Bingliamstown Castle yielded a profusion of Viola 

 tricolor^ and also the sole station of Vicia sepium, in a dwarf 

 form six inches high and almost devoid of tendrils, with 

 handsome rose-purple flowers, forming patches many yards in 

 area among the Bent. On the sands at Cross I^ough a 

 glabrous form of Cerasthmi triviale, with dark green shining 

 foliage, was present. 



The Lakes. 



Although the several lakelets on the Mullet present similar 

 physical conditions, their flora varies considerably. Ardmore 

 I^ough, lying on the Blacksod side, occupies a very flat depres- 

 sion, which at the time of our visit was quite dry, and presented a 

 plain of red sand, largely covered with a green mantle of 

 Littorclla. The sward was thickly strewn over its entire area 

 with the graceful flower-stems of Lobelia Dortmaima^ and more 

 sparingly with those of E7'iocaulo7i septangulare. Juimis 

 supinus and Eleocharis viulticaulis made up the bulk of the 

 other plants present. Cross lyough, the largest sheet of 

 water on the Mullet, covering some 250 acres, is formed by 

 the damming back of drainage by the dunes of the western 

 shore. It also is extremely shallow, with a flat bottom of 

 hard sand^ and slightly brackish water of yellowish colour. 

 Here the bottom is covered with Chara aspera (subsp. 

 desmacantha), and Littorella. Potamogeton pecti7iattis is 

 common, and with it are two rarer species, P. prcclo7igus and 

 P. Jilifor7?iis. Ra7iu7iculus trichophyllus, R. Baudotii (both new 

 to W. Ma> o), and Myj'iophyllu77t spicatum, make up the total of 

 hydrophytes. A ditch south of the lake forms the only 

 station for Chara vulga7'is (type and var. lo7igibraeteata). Learn 

 Lough, where I hoped to get some additional plants, turned 

 out to be salt; it fills by means of its drainage channel at 

 spring tides. Its shores have a lialophile vegetation, and its 

 waters contain only a few algse. But the furthest lake on the 

 Mullet — a mere sandy pond lying behind the dunes at New- 

 town — proved unexpectedly interesting. It is choked with 

 Ceratophyllum demersuTn, Pota77iogeto7i prcelongus^ Chara hispida, 

 and C aspera, along with which are Ra7m7iculus Baudotii and 

 Myuophyllum spicatu77i. . Of these, the Hornwort is the most 



