1 Vegetation Committee's Excursion to Ireland. 255 
was largely replaced by the rare E. Mackaii, but no trace could be 
found of E. Stuarti, a supposed hybrid between the latter and E. 
mediterranea, and perhaps exterminated by the discoverers, nor 
of the double-flowered variety of E. Mackaii, named by gardeners 
E. Crawfordi. One patch containing many plants of Erica 
mediterranea was found by a streamside, but it flowers in the spring. 
On the knolls of metamorphic rock Ulex Gallii was a conspicuous 
feature, associated with Calluna vulgaris, Erica cinerea, and the large- 
flowered Dabeocia polifolia, another of the rare West Irish heaths, 
which occurs in great profusion on all the roadsides in this district. 
Errisbeg, an isolated hill only just short of 1000 feet, bears 
Molinia- bog on its northern face, while its southern steeper face is 
covered with a “grass-heath ” association, dominated by grasses and 
with masses of Ulex Gallii in full flower. In this association were 
Lastrcea cemula, Spiranthes autumnalis, Scabiosa succisa and Plantago 
coronopus. The heaths themselves were nowhere dominant on this 
slope. 
Most of the sides of Ben Lettery (1904 feet) were covered with 
Molinia- bog. In places were patches of Eriophorum and Scirpus 
ccespitosus. Blechuum boreale was abundant and higher up was a 
lot of Nardus stricta. The last 700 feet to the summit was nearly 
pure Calluna, with Erica cinerea and a little Dabeocia. Near the 
top were Empetrum, Arctostaphylos and Vacciniurn Myrtillus, with 
a little Saxifraga umbrosa, and, on the summit, Salix herbacea. 
The moors on the borders of Wicklow and Dublin, which were 
visited by the Committee during the meeting of the British 
Association, were interesting, not only in themselves, but also 
because they had been mapped and described. 1 The moors cover 
the summits and upper slopes of the hills. The plant association 
covering the hill-tops was dominated by Scirpus ccespitosus. The 
soil consists of rather wet peat to a depth of several feet. The hill 
slopes below the Scirpus moor was a typical association of Calluna 
vulgaris, developed on rather drier and shallower peat. Mixed with 
the heather were Vacciniurn Myrtillus, Empetrum nigrum, and (rarely) 
Listera cordata. This zonation of Calluna- and Scirpus-moors is of 
great interest, and affords a remarkable parallel to that of the 
Pennine peat moors, where Calluna-moors occupy precisely the 
same relative position, while Eriophorum-moors occur in the place 
of the Scirpus-moors. 
A very interesting feature of both the Calluna- and Scirpus- 
moors was the occurrence in some abundance of patches of the 
woolly moss Racomitrium. 
A precipitous edge was dominated by Vacciniurn Myrtillus, with 
a great deal of Pteris in places. 
The lower slopes of the hills were occupied by various types of 
heath pasture. The wetter places had much J uncus, the drier, 
much Ulex Gallii or Pteris or both. 
Woodland-Type of Connemara. 
The rocky islands in Craigga Moor Lough (and other neigh- 
1 G. H. Pethybridge, and R. LI. Praeger. Vegetation of the 
District lying to the south of Dublin. Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. 
1905. 
