568 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
II. Southern lowland. Earely reaching the north of Ireland, 
and includes Watson's English and Germanic occurring in 
Ireland. This group will include a portion of Watson's 
Atlantic group. Some of these may be classed as ''local- 
eastern" and a few others as local -western " ; amongst 
the latter would be included the group sometimes termed 
"Hibernian," containing such plants as Arbutus unedo, 
Pinguicula grandiflora, Saxifraga geum^ Neottia romanzoviana, 
and a few others. 
III. General lowland. This group will take in the bulk of Irish 
plants. A portion of those tabulated as ascending the 
mountains to a moderate height will fall under this group. 
Also all the universally distributed species whether so-called 
"Atlantic," or "English," which never ascend mountains, 
but occur throughout Ireland. The commoner Irish species, 
not mentioned heretofore, fall almost entirely under this 
division. 
ly. Northern lowland. This group will receive Watson's northern 
or Scottish species. Several of these occur in the mountainous 
parts of southern Ireland, but are very local there, and far 
commoner northwards. A certain number of general species 
which rise higher on the mountains than any in the last group, 
especially in the I^'orth of Ireland, will also be included in 
this group. Many of these are moorland or mountain 
species with an upper but no lower limit. On the mountains 
these usually overlap the Alpines, but do not pass them, or 
reach the summits. This may be taken as their upward 
limit. This group may be sub-divided into " northern " 
and " montane." 
Y. Alpine. One or two of these in Ireland would better fall under 
the last group perhaps, since they reach sea-level in several 
parts of the coast. But even these usually are characteristic 
of the situation which the other Alpines inhabit, and it is 
better not to separate them. 
With regard to this last group, I venture to allude to an obser- 
vation I made in the Arctic regions (see Eeport on the Botany of the 
Polar Expedition of 1875, Journal of Botany, 1880). I there called 
attention to the fact that in high latitudes many species seem to be 
independent of reproduction by seed. Some showed no signs of 
