258 Vegetation Committee's Excursion to Ireland. 
dune, and still shows this type in parts, with Eryugium maritimum, 
but there is no fresh growing dune with vigorous Psarnma. In 
places the turf bore much Asperula cynanchica and the rare 
Arabis ciliata and Euphrasia salisburgensis. The existence of 
these “ calcicole ” plants (together with Orchis pyramidalis, 
Chlora perfoliata, etc.) not only on the dunes, but also in isolated 
spots away from the sea, is no doubt due to the calcareous sand 
which is sometimes carried some distance inland by the wind. 
Arenaria peploides, Polygonum Raii (a maritime segregate of P. 
aviculare) and Spergularia rupestris, a glandular species with 
characteristic pyriform seeds, were also found on the shore. 
The rocky headland or “ island ” beyond the dunes bore a turf 
of Cynosurus and Bromus, with no heath-grasses. This represents 
a natural grass association which as yet does not appear to have 
been studied or described. 
The Carboniferous Limestone Region of Southern Galway 
and County Clare. 
Three nights were spent by the party at Ardrahan, near the 
borders of Galway and Clare, and a good opportunity afforded 
of examining this remarkable country. The region consists 
mainly of a nearly flat plain of limestone “ pavement ” with deep 
vertical fissures (cf. the Craven district of West Yorkshire), the 
whole being more or less overgrown with vegetation. From this 
plain rise bold hills, whose sides frequently present a regular 
succession of cliffs and terraces, and whose summits consist of 
extensive plateaus of similar “ pavement.” The sculpturing of 
these hills is often wonderfully symmetrical, owing to the horizontal 
position and uniform character of the successive beds of limestone. 
Most of the extensive limestone plain is less than 100 feet 
above the sea ; it is pastureland divided up into small fields by stone 
walls, which seem to be often put up more for the sake of getting 
the stones off the land than with the object of enclosure. This 
land bears in places a remarkable mixture of “ calcicole ” and 
“ calcifuge ” plants. The following were observed, mostly in the 
immediate neighbourhood of Ardrahan. 
Of “ calcicole ” species were Dryas oclopetala, locally pure in 
extensive sheets, Sesleria ccerulea (sub-dominant) Geranium san- 
guiueum, Centaurea Scabiosa, Gentiana verna, Chlora perfoliata, 
Galium silvestre, Euphrasia salisburgensis, Kcderia cristata. Other 
species, very characteristic of calcareous soils, though not confined 
to them, were Gentiana Amarella, Gymuadenia conopsea, Carex 
glauca. Triodia decumbens was often sub-dominant, Briza media 
and Agrostis sp. very abundant. Besides these were noted Linum 
catharticum, a form of Geranium Robertianum much like the var. 
p\irpurexim of the English shingle beaches, Hypericum pulchrum, 
Parnassia palustris, Crataegus monogyna (gnawed down), Potentilla 
fruticosa (very local, abundant near Castle Lough), Pimpinella 
Saxifraga, Conopodium denudatum, Daucus Carota, Scabiosa succisa, 
Antennaria dioica, Leontodon hispidus, Centaurea nigra, Galium 
verum, Teucrium Scorodonia, Plantago maritima, Corylus Avellana 
(often forming a thick extensive scrub), Carex pulicaris, funiperus 
