The Sunny Side of Ireland / How to see it by the Great Southern and Western Railway

by John O'Mahony

Natural History of the South and West of Ireland.

By R. Lloyd Praeger, B.A., B.E., &c.

The Natural History of the South and West of Ireland possesses a special and peculiar interest in the occurrence in this region of a number of plants and animals which are rare in or absent from Great Britain and the adjoining portions of Europe. Let us first consider the general geographical features of this area, and the geological characters which have produced those features. Ireland has often been likened to a saucer, consisting as it does of a great central plain, fringed with mountain groups disposed around the coast. The plain has a slightly undulating floor of Carboniferous limestone; the groups of hills are mostly formed of older rocks, which break through the level limestones. On our journey from Dublin to Athlone, or from Dublin to Mallow, we pass across typical portions of the central plain; and the brown ridges of Slieve Bloom and Devil's Bit, and the greener heights of the Galtees, furnish good examples of the masses of older rocks that rise out of the plain.

In considering the features and natural history of this wide area, it will be convenient to divide it into districts, which we shall treat of in the following order:—

1. Wicklow and Wexford.
2. Waterford and East Cork.
3. West Cork and Kerry.
4. Clare and East Galway.
5. West Galway and West Mayo.
6. Sligo.
7. The Central Plain and River Shannon.

1. WICKLOW AND WEXFORD.—Here we are on the East Coast, looking across St. George's Channel towards the shores of Wales. The lovely county of Wicklow is the most mountainous in Ireland, having 180 square miles over 1,000 feet elevation, and 25 square miles over 2,000. Wexford is lower and more fertile. The coasts of both counties are in great measure flat and sandy, and are the home of many rare plants. A number of species of light soils and of gravelly shores have here their Irish headquarters, such as the Round-headed Trefoil (Trifolium glomeratum) the Sea-Stock (Matthiola sinuata), the rare Sea-Cudweed (Diotis candidissima), and the Wild Asparagus (A. officinalis). The Murrough, a great gravel beach backed by salt marshes which extends from Greystones to Wicklow, and the marshes of the River Slaney, may be specially recommended to the naturalist. These coasts are the only Irish locality for the handsome ground-beetle, Nebria complanata, a typical South European animal. The Wicklow mountains, which reach in Lugnaquilla a height of 3,039 feet, are the main portion of the Leinster highlands, formed by a great mass of granite which stretches from Dublin into county Kilkenny. Considering their elevation this range is singularly devoid of alpine plants and animals, but many interesting species inhabit the lower grounds, famous on account of the beauty of the scenery.

Among the Lepidoptera several rare species are characteristic of the district, such as the "Bath White" butterfly (Pontia daplidice), and the "Four-spotted Footman" moth (Œnistis quadra).

2. WATERFORD AND EAST CORK.—This is a picturesque district, formed largely of slates and sandstones of Old Red Sandstone age. The coast is mostly of very bold character, with towering cliff ranges. The country is generally undulating and fertile, with occasional mountain ranges, of which the Comeraghs are rendered especially interesting and picturesque by the deep "cooms," embosoming tarns, which give them their name. The Comeraghs and the lovely valley of the Blackwater furnish particularly attractive ground for the naturalist. The flora and fauna of this area are intermediate in character between that of the district last considered and of the surpassingly interesting country that lies to the westward, and which will next claim attention. Thus, the coasts yield several of the rare plants mentioned in the last paragraph—for instance, Diotis and Asparagus grow at Tramore; while at the same time we first meet in this area with some of the most famous plants of the south-west—London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa), Kidney-leaved Saxifrage (S. Geum), Great Butterwort (Pinguicula grandiflora), Irish Spurge (Euphorbia hiberna). Two rare butterflies of this district are Dianthæcia cæsia and D. luteago var. Barrettii; and the largest of the British leaf-beetles, Timarcha lævigata, has been taken near Waterford, and at Tipperary.

Drawing J. St. J. Phillips.