THE ENTOMOLOGISTS 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 167.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1859. [Price Id. 
COUNTY LISTS. 
A paper by Mr. C. C. Babington was 
read before tbe Dublin University 
Zoological and Botanical Association 
last February, entitled “ Hints towards 
a Cybele Hibernica.” In this paper 
Mr. Babington divides Ireland into 
twelve provinces, each province con- 
sisting of sundry counties and vice- 
counties ; the only counties divided 
being Kerry, Cork, Tipperary, Galway 
and Mayo. 
Mr. Babington observes: — 
“ Mr. Watson, in his great work, the 
* Cybele Britannica,’ excluded Ireland, 
solely because he did not possess, and 
had not the means of procuring, any 
sufficiently complete and reliable in- 
formation relative to its general, and 
especially its local, Floras. Up to this 
date, I am not aware that more than one 
tolerably comprehensive local Flora has 
been published in Ireland ; namely, that 
of the county of Cork.” 
“ The time seems now to have arrived 
when an attempt should be made to 
supply this deficiency; for it is surely 
the duty of an active, and especially 
Irish, Society, to take the matter in 
hand, and by making use of those ad- 
vantages which its seat in the heart of 
the University of Dublin, the corre- 
spondence which it has established with 
different parts of the island, and the 
active researches of its members, confer 
upon it, to commence the work, and, 
it is hoped, carry it to a successful 
result.” 
“ It would be well to form carefully 
prepared lists of all the indigenous 
plants found in each of the twelve pro- 
vinces, recording in each case the spot 
where the plant grew and the county 
or vice-county in which the place is 
situated. This will have to be done 
with great care, in order to avoid the 
errors resulting from two causes ; first, 
the wish which many collectors have to 
swell their lists by including in them all 
the plants they can find, without con- 
sidering if the species is likely to be 
indigenous in the place where they have 
observed it ; and, secondly, tbe mis- 
takes often made in the nomenclature of 
little known or what are called critical 
plants.” 
Mr. Babington then very philoso- 
phically remarks : — 
“ That we want to obtain an account 
of the true native plants of Ireland for 
the purpose of completing the geo- 
graphical distribution of the vegetation 
of Europe, and that the idea of there 
being any national credit attaching to 
the possession of a rich Flora is utterly 
devoid of foundation. Our object in 
such researches should be the extension 
of our scientific knowledge, which is 
M 
