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

by John O'Mahony

Photo—Welch, Belfast.

Arbutus Islands, Upper Lake, and the Reeks, Killarney.

Going for a moment further north, we find in Connemara, and there only, a group of three kinds of Heath with the same peculiar distribution:—

Photo—Welch, Belfast.

The Irish Spurge.

St. Dabeoc's Heath (Dabeocia polifolia). In Ireland
in Connemara. Unknown in England. On the
Continent confined to the south-west.
Mediterranean Heath (Erica mediterranea). In
Ireland in Connemara. Unknown in England.
On the Continent confined to the south-west.
Mackay's Heath (E. Mackaiana). In Ireland in
Connemara. Unknown in England. On the
Continent in Spain only.

Nor is it the plants alone that exhibit the peculiar relation existing between the Natural History of Ireland and of the Pyrenean region. Among the animals the same features may be observed, the most striking instance being the peculiar Kerry Slug (Geomalacus maculosus), which is abundant in many parts of the extreme south-west of Ireland, and is elsewhere found only in Portugal.