The Distribution of the Irish Flora. 55 
water to pass into the bottle. Any air that may be present is 
driven out through the glass tube, which then fills with water. 
The particular advantage of the apparatus lies in the ease with 
which an experiment maybe started. When not in actual use, as the 
water is transpired of course air follows the column of water 
into the bottle, but this can at once be ejected by allowing water to 
to flow from the funnel, and an observation taken without any 
disturbance of the plant under investigation. It may be added 
that 20 inches is a convenient length for the upper limb of the 
glass tube,but of course it can be made as long as may be desirable, 
at least within the limits of practical rigidity. 
J. B. Farmer. 
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE IRISH FLORA. 
U P to the present date the flora of Ireland has usually been 
analysed according to the eight types of distribution, 
established by H. C. Watson 1 for Great Britain, namely:— 
1 . 
British type 
species occurring throughout Britain. 
2. 
English type 
>> 
,, in the south of Britain. 
3. 
Scottish type 
5 J 
,, ,, north of Britain. 
4. 
Intermediate type 
>5 
,, chiefly in Mid-Britain. 
5. 
Highland type - 
,, ,, in the mountains. 
6 . 
Germanic type - 
,, ,, in East England. 
7. 
Atlantic type 
„ „ in West „ 
8. Local type, including species occurring in a few localities. 
In the first portion of an extremely interesting paper, Mr. 
Lloyd Praeger- gives an account of the distribution in Ireland of 
Watson’s types. A large number of common plants (377 species) 
are of purely British type; only eight of those occurring in Britain 
are absent ( e.g. A vena pratensis), these being mostly of southern 
distribution (British-English type). The English type decreases 
from S.E. to N.W., being most common in Dublin, Wicklow and 
Wexford, whilst the Scottish type is concentrated in the North and 
from there extends down the coast on either side. Whereas a 
considerable percentage of the former type owes its presence in 
Ireland to the operations of man, the latter is purely native. The 
abundant occurrence of plants of English type in Clare is curious, 
and is probably correlated with the presence of limestone surfaces 
in that county. The Highland type is not very abundantly repre- 
1 Cybele Britan nica, I. 43 (1847), iv. 409 (1859), and Compendium 
of the Cybele Britannica, 23 (1868-70). 
sproc. Roy. Irish Acad. Vol. xxiv., Sect. B, Part 1, 1902, pp. 1-60. 
