THE WILD FLO WEES OF THE WEST OF IRELAND. 



301 



know that, at some period which is comparatively recent, our islands 

 still joined the mainland of Eur9pe, allowing the continental plants free 

 access to our area. 



There is much evidence to show^ that the last land connection 

 between Ireland and Great Britain broke down before the last land 

 connection which joined Great Britain to the Continent ; in other words, 

 that Ireland became an island before Great Britain did. In this way 

 we account for the absence from Ireland of many wide-spread English 

 plants, and also of certain common English animals, such as the mole, 

 all the voles, the w^easel, the common toad, the ringed snake, adder, 

 and slow-worm. These, it must be assumed, migrated from the Conti- 

 nent into Great Britain comparatively late, and reached the edge of the 

 Irish Sea too late to cross by the former land -bridge. And so, in the 

 main, just as the flora of Great Britain is a reduced continental one, 

 so the flora of Ireland is a reduced British one. Once the land-bridges 

 were gone, migration w^as checked; but questions of climate, situation, 

 and soil within our area exercised a profound influence on the distri- 

 bution of the plants, controlling and guiding the spreading of the various 

 species. Thus the climate of eastern England most nearly corresponds, 

 in its warmer, drier summers and colder winters, w^itli that of the adjoin- 

 ing parts of the Continent, and the eastern parts of Ireland similarly 

 most resemble England; in the flora corresponding similarities will be 

 found. By the time the West of Ireland is reached, almost all the plants 

 which love a hot summer and a dry soil have been left behind, and the 

 characteristic flora is one which can endure a peaty soil and a heavy rain- 

 fall, and which can face with equanimity a summer no warmer than that 

 of Finland, and a winter resembling that of the Mediterranean. The 

 last point — the question of temperature — is one of great importance. In 

 the West of Ireland in winter snow^ is rare and hard frost unknowai; a 

 succession of westerly gales, with rain, mist, and cloud, sweep in from the 

 Atlantic, and the summer is also comparatively sunless, moist, and cool. 

 The influence of these conditions on the vegetation is very marked, as 

 is likewise the bold grouping of limestone and of non-calcareous rocks, 

 of which mention has already been made. 



Let us now take a few typical bits of the West of Ireland, and study 

 them and their flora in greater detail. 



The western part of the county of Galway, known as Connemara, 

 together with the western part of Mayo, forms one of the great pro- 

 jecting buttresses of ancient rocks already referred to. This is a region 

 of bog, lake, and rock, with many fine mountain groups and vast 

 houseless and fenceless stretches of moorland. The mountains are 

 rugged and bare, and not so rich in alpine plants as corresponding hills 

 m Scotland; but the low-grounds fully make up in interest for any- 

 thmg that the hills may lack. Heather is the characteristic plant of 

 the whole area, and in this connection we come on the first of many 

 remarkable points which make the West Irish flora of such deep 

 interest. Among the commoner heaths which cover the country with 

 a brown carpet our eye falls on other quite unfamiliar species. No fewer 

 VOL. xxxvi. X 



