Stewart — On the Botany of South Clare and the Shannon. 345 
total of the plants of tlie district. Tlie names of several compara- 
tively common species do not appear in these lists, but it is not to be 
assumed that all such are really absent from the flora. In the case of 
even the most common it has not been deen.ed wise to assume their 
occurrence unless actually noted in the field ; and to pass by such 
v^ithout note is easier than to overlook a rarity. Amongst the Musci 
one species, CincUdotiis riparius is an addition to the British flora ; to 
give a full account of the mosses would, however, entail another 
winter's work, and the following list is an incomplete one. The 
Hepaticse have been still less perfectly catalogued, though it must be 
said that a rich flora of these plants cannot be hoped for, as Nature 
has not afforded them the most suitable habitats. It is singular that 
this district, lying midway between two remarkable floras, is scarcely 
enriched by any outliers or vestiges of either. Killarney is but half 
of a degree further south, but then the physical conditions are totally 
unlike. Instead of lofty mountains, with thickly- wooded and deep 
sheltering glens, we have on the Shannon low boggy hills, and the 
woods are elevated but slightly above sea-level. About an equal dis- 
tance to the north we meet with, in the Eurren flora, a vegetation 
very different from that of Killarney, and scarcely less interesting. 
The prominent plants of the Burren are absent from South Clare and 
the Shannon estuary, and this absence must be accounted for on 
geological considerations. The warm limestone rocks of the Burren, 
intersected as they are everywhere by their humid fissures, offer 
unique conditions which do not obtain, to any extent, elsewhere in 
Ireland. The speciality of the conditions in north-west Clare is cx- 
'l pressed in its special flora ; but this flora, due to geological influences, 
is confined to the area in which those influences operate. 
The geographical relations of tha. flora here recorded do not call 
I for much comment. We notice an absence of any plants special to 
the locality, and the usual preponderance of the common species 
grouped in Watson's " British Type." An analysis of the following 
lists shows that 75 per cent, of the plants enumerated must be classed 
under the British type, 15 per cent, under the English type, 2^ per 
cent, are of the Atlantic type, and 1 per cent, only are placed in the 
Scottish type. But one plant, Orchis pyramidalis^ can be credited to 
the Grermanic type, and the Highland type is without any representa- 
tion. There remain 6|- per cent, uncertain and unclassed. Cincli- 
idotus riparius is new to the British flora, and llubus althceifolius is a. 
bramble not previously recorded as Irish. The variety intermedins of 
R. ccesius is also an addition to the Irish flora, and likewise the yar, 
E.I.A. PROC, SER. III., VOL. I. 2 C 
