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The Scottish Naturalist. 



architecture made when defence was no longer the most necessary 

 aim in the erection of houses. 



Papers were read on Kildrummy Castle by Dr. Shearer, Presi- 

 dent of the Huntly Field Club, on Auchindoir Church by Rev. G. 

 A. Selbie, Clatt, and on Craig Castle by Mr. Macdonald, Huntly ; 

 and, with Mr. Hinxman's paper on the geology of the district, added 

 much to the value of the excursion. 



REVIEW. 



THE FLORA OF THE NORTH-EAST OF IRELAND.* 



A Flora of the North-east of Ireland ought, on several grounds, to be of 

 interest to a Scottish botanist. Though the authors of the work before us 

 think that an analysis of the plants of Down, Antrim, and Derry does not 

 support the theory that many of the species reached Ireland by way of Scot- 

 land, but rather that they came from the West of England, yet many naturalists 

 incline to believe that Ireland was to a great extent peopled, both by animals 

 and plants, by immigration from North Britain rather than from South Britain. 

 It would take too much time and space to enter now into the pros and cons for 

 this argument, but the Scottish botanist, who knows the distribution of the 

 British plants, will find in the account of the comparative rarity or abundance, 

 habitats, &c, of the North Irish plants much matter for consideration. 

 Another point suggested by this Flora is the influence of the Atlantic Ocean on 

 the present distribution of Lire plants of the British Isles ; in other words, the 

 effect of a climate more or less " insular," or more or less " continental." If 

 this is kept in mind in comparing the Flora of South v. Central Eastern 

 Scotland with the Flora of North-eastern Ireland, the absence from the latter 

 of many plants which occur in the former, may perhaps be accounted for ; and 

 k will also perhaps explain the apparent absence of present evidence that many 

 of the Irish plants came through Scotland. 



It would be out of place in the pages of this Magazine to go into details of 

 the nature of this " Flora." In many ways it is a model of what a local flora 

 should be, and most especially in that the evidence for the occurrence of the 

 plants in their several localities has been most carefully weighed. Almost the 

 only short-coming of any vital importance in the book is the want of a map of 

 the district. 



F. B. W. 



* A Flora of the North-east of Ireland, including the Phanerogamia, 

 the Cryptogamia Vascularia, and the Muscineae. By S. A. Stewart and the 

 iate T. H. Corry. Published by the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club. 1888. 



