56 
The Distribution of the Irish Flora. 
sented and its limits by no means correspond with the distribution 
of highlying ground. 
The Germanic type is least abundant of all, which may be 
accounted for by the breaking down of the Irish-English land-con¬ 
nection before that of the English-Continental ; all the thirteen 
species present are distinctly calcicole. The group attains its 
maximum in Clare, S.E Galway and Dublin. The Atlantic type is 
well represented, a considerable number of the species present being 
maritime and consisting of plants adapted to the conditions of an 
insular climate; corresponding to this we find that this type is 
coastal in its distribution, but rather southern, occurring chiefly in 
South Kerry, West Cork and Waterford. 
If the distribution of calcicole and calcifuge plants be consi¬ 
dered, it is found that the former are most abundantly represented 
in the West and not in the central Limestone Plain ; they reach 
their maximum in Clare, S.E Galway and Limerick, occurring rather 
commonly also in E. Cork, Kilkenny, Kildare and Dublin. Mr. 
Praeger points out that the occurrence of bare limestone rock 
accounts for the great development of the calcicole group in the west, 
whereas the limestone drift covering the rocky surface of the 
Central Plain and Eastern counties may frequently have all the 
lime washed out of its surface layers, leaving a non-calcareous soil. 
The calcifuge plants are more abundant, occurring especially in 
Kerry and West Cork. They thus reach their maximum on the old 
non-calcareous rocks grouped round the coast and their minimum 
in the limestone plain. The county Clare is remarkable in that 
there both the calcicole and the calcifuge flora are richly developed. 
It is noteworthy that the distribution of ‘Scottish,’ ‘Highland’ 
and ‘Atlantic’ plants is to some extent analagous to that of the 
calcifuge flora, whereas that of the ‘English’ and ‘Germanic’ agrees 
in many respects with that of the calcicole group; this corresponds 
well with the petrological conditions prevalent in the areas of 
Britain occupied by Watson’s types.—In Ireland the overlap 
between northern and southern forms is apparently less marked 
than in England. 
It will be noticed that a natural geographical grouping of Irish 
plants is not possible with the use of Watson’s types, and Mr. Praeger 
devotes the second half of his paper to the solution of this question. 
He finds that Irish plants may in the first place be grouped in two 
classes—those which do and those which do not show an aggregation 
in some part of the country. The latter are all included under a 
