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XXXI. 
KEPOET ON THE BOTAl^Y OE SOUTH CLAEE A^TD THE 
SHAmOJ^". Ey S. a. STEWAET, Fellow of the Botanical 
Society of Edinburgli, Curator of the Collections in the Museum 
of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society. 
[Eead May 27, 1889.] 
The district with which this Eeport is concerned is very irregularly 
limited, and its bounds cannot be defined with much exactness. It 
ranges in latitude from 52° 25' N., at the southern side of the Shan- 
non's mouth, to 52° 51' at Ennis. Its longitudinal extremes are, 
Limerick, 8° 38' W., and Kerry Head, 9° 50'. Portions of three 
counties — Clare, Limerick, and Kerry — are embraced in this area, 
which is mainly interesting by reason of its including the wide and 
deep estuary of the greatest of British rivers. Ennis in the east, and 
Kilrush in the west, were the principal centres of observation in 
South Clare. Most attention was paid to Clare, and a wider area was 
examined in this county than in either Limerick or Kerry. From 
Ennis the lower Fergus flows, with a slow, deep current, through 
low-lying flats formed of alluvial deposits. This river opens into 
the Shannon through a wide estuary of its own, some fifteen miles 
below Limerick, and about twelve miles south of Ennis, and is tidal 
almost as far up as the latter place. The surface of the country, in 
this part of the county, is flat and uninteresting, with numerous 
small bogs and lakes lying amongst low hills. The lakelets are in 
many cases surrounded by planting, and they form the one attractive 
feature in the landscape. The margins of the Fergus are so marshy 
as to be almost inaccessible to the pedestrian naturalist ; its vicinity 
will probably yield some interesting fenland plants when more fully 
examined. Kilrush is seated on the northern bank of the Shannon a 
considerable distance above its mouth. The north side of the estuary 
is here separated from the Atlantic by a long, narrow peninsula, 
which terminates at Loop Head about twenty miles below Kilrush. 
Inland the scene rises gradually from both sides, and much of the 
median portion of the peninsula consists of extensive, elevated peat 
