192 MR. MILLER CHRISTY ON 
already stated, in the form of ** Great Cowslips or Oxlips” over 
two hundred years ago) appears to be a botanist’s name and is 
used little, if at all, by the country people. In the Essex portion 
of its Area, the Oxlip is generally known as the ** Cowslip " or the 
“ Paigle "—both of which names are, both locally and elsewhere, 
commonly applied to the Cowslip (P. vers). In Suffolk (so far 
as my experience goes), these names are restricted to the Cows- 
lip, and the Oxlip is known as the “ Five-fingers.” In Cam- 
bridgeshire, so far as I know, it has no local name. 
VII. Absence of the Primrose from the Oxlip-Area. 
Perhaps no fact in connection with the distribution of Primula 
elatior in Britain is more remarkable than the extreme sharpness 
of the boundary-line of the area occupied by the plant. Were 
the entire country still covered by aboriginal woodland, it would, 
I believe, be possible everywhere to define, to a couple of 
hundred yards or less, the line dividing the Oxlip-Country from 
the surrounding Primrose-Country. Both species everywhere 
grow abundantly (except at one spot, to be mentioned hereafter) 
right up to their common dividing-line, which may often be 
crossed with surprising suddenness. At many places round the 
border of the Oxlip-Area, one may pass from a wood in which only 
(or mainly) Primroses grow to another quite close in which only 
(or mainly) Oxlips are found; while, in not a few places, the 
boundary-line may be seen obviously to run through even 4 
comparatively-small wood (as, for instance, Parson’s Grove, near 
Lavenham, and Hardwick Wood, Cambridge), Oxlips only being 
found at one end and Primroses at the other. Everywhere along 
the boundary-line of the Oxlip-Area, this sudden transition may 
be observed more or less distinctly, except along that portion 
near Westley- Waterless and Brinkley, in Cambridgeshire, where 
the Oxlip-margin abuts upon an elevated, open, chalk district 
unsuited to the needs of either species. Notwithstanding the 
immense abundance of the Primrose all round the Oxlip-Area, J 
have never detected a single plant growing within that Area, 
except on or close to the margin. Nor have I ever seen a single 
plant of the Oxlip growing outside the boundary-lines I have 
laid down, except at the two spots already described (see p. 187): 
In short, the Oxlip-Area could hardly be more sharply defined. 
