184 Rhodora [SEPTEMBER 
near Berkshire County. The list is confined to species or well marked 
varieties whose distribution is well known. "The geographical range 
is based on published records and on an examination of the collections 
of the New England Botanical Club and the Gray Herbarium." 
“(1) Plants that occur in Berkshire County, but have not been 
found native east of the Connecticut River, ranging northwestward, 
westward, or southwestward, and in the case of certain calciphiles 
northeastward (stations in the Connecticut Valley in parentheses). ” 
Then follows the list of 58 species which are reputed to extend only 
"northwestward, westward, or southwestward" from Berkshire 
County, with the exception of 4 (Waldsteinia fragarioides, Impatiens 
pallida, Hypericum Ascyron and Solidago hispida) which are admitted 
as extending as far east as the Connecticut. But surely the “ examina- 
tionof . . . the Gray Herbarium” and the “published records” 
could not have been very thorough, for of the 58 plants listed as 
E *the limits of their ranges in or near Berkshire County," 
3 (Equisetum variegatum, Potamogeton alpinus and Viola Selkirkii) 
extend more than 1500 miles northeastward, quite to Greenland; 10 
(Sparganium fluctuans, Potamogeton Friesii, Carex eburnea, Juncus 
Dudleyi, Populus tacamahacca, Salix serissima, Arenaria macrophylla, 
Ribes triste var. albinervium, Viola nephrophylla and Solidago hispida) 
from 750 to 1100 miles northeastward, to Newfoundland or Labrador; 
5 (Sagittaria cuneata, Carex Tuckermani, Quercus macrocarpa, 
Polygala Senega and Impatiens pallida) 350 to 500 miles northeastward, 
to the Gaspé Peninsula, New Brunswick or Nova Scotia; while 8 
(Carex alopecoidea, C. rosea var. minor, Scirpus Peckii, Chenopodium 
Boscianum, Sanicula trifoliata, Stachys palustris var. homotricha— 
including the type collection, Physalis heterophylla var. ambigua and 
Lobelia syphilitica) reach Maine; 7 (Pellaea atropurpurea, Scirpus 
lineatus, Waldstenia fragarioides, Hypericum Ascyron, Viola latiuscula, 
Agastache serophulariaefolia and Viburnum affine) New Hampshire, 
eastern Massachusetts or eastern Rhode Island; and 6 others (Carea 
Davisti, C. formosa, Morus rubra, Cerastium nutans, Podophyllum 
peltatum and Veronica virginica) cross to the eastern side of the Conn- 
ecticut valley. If we add the species which occur northward in Ver- 
mont or beyond, in Quebec, we shall have left of the list of 58 only 2 
Ranunculus circinatus and Cirsium Hillit. Whether the last named 
is worth counting seems very doubtful. At least, in recent years 
grave doubt as to its specific value has been raised and in his mono- 
graph of the genus Petrak reduces it outright to C. pumilum. 
The basis of the third group, “Plants that occur in Berkshire 
County, not found native in Vermont, ranging southward, or south- 
westward,” is as difficult to understand. If the are had been ex- 
tended by saying, also southeastward, eastward and northeastward, 
the perplexity of the discriminating reader would have been removed; 
for, of the 40 species listed 1 (Utricularia minor) extends to Green- 
land; 4 (Carex atlantica, Juncus militaris, Sisyrinchium gramineum 
