64 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



of Scotland north of Wigtown. These are : Ayr (75), Renfrew (76), 

 Lanark (77), Stirling (86), Westerness (97), Argyll (98), Dumbarton 

 (99), Clyde Isles (100), Cantyre (101), South Ebudes (102), Mid 

 Ebudes (103), North Ebudes (104), West Ross (105), Hebrides 

 (no). He explains that "great care has been taken in recording 

 and re-recording the plants for which local botanists are responsible." 

 All plants forming new records have been seen by himself, and 

 most of them have been seen by Mr. Arthur Bennett. "A free use 

 of '?' has been made, though in most cases this does not mean 

 much. Occasionally it is used to express a doubt as to the plant's 

 occurrence in a certain county." This mode of using the query 

 leaves the reader uncertain as to whether the occurrence in a county 

 is, or is not, seriously questioned by the author. 



With respect to the vexed question of what plants should be 

 admitted as " natives," Mr. Ewing explains in the introduction that : 

 " I have come to the conclusion that, as all our vegetation seems to 

 have developed subsequent to the Great Ice Age, the question 

 simply is, how long must a plant be established before it can be 

 regarded as a native? The words 'casual,' 'alien,' 'colonist,' and 

 ' native ' look well in books, but they do not seem to me to be of 

 much practical value so long as this remains undetermined. ... I have 

 tried to eliminate all plants recorded for places where they have not 

 the power to establish themselves." It is certainly no easy matter 

 to judge aright of the claims of many species to a place in our 

 flora ; but the greater number of botanists would hesitate to include 

 in a flora of Scotland, without note or indication of any kind, such 

 plants as, e.g., Clematis Vitalba, Helleborus viridis, H. fcetidus, 

 Aconitnm Napellus, Hesperis matronalis, Erysimum cheiranthoides, 

 Camelina sativa, Brassica Napus, B. Rutabaga, B. Rapa, Lepidium 

 sativuin, and many others. If some of these are to be admitted 

 unquestioned, it is hard to see why others should be excluded from 

 all mention, as mere casuals. 



No attempt has been made in the "Catalogue" to indicate the 

 advancement in the knowledge of the West of Scotland flora, or to 

 note which are new records and which are confirmations of records 

 already extant. A recognition of the actual additions to previous 

 published records that have been made in this work requires 

 previous study of the topographical botany of Scotland. The 

 amount of labour that has been devoted to the book, small though 

 it is, and the large amount of information that it affords to those 

 qualified to make use of it, will be gratefully recognised by all those 

 interested in such studies. The exceedingly small price (23.) puts 

 it within the reach of every one. 



We hope that it will meet with such a reception that a new 

 edition will be soon called for, and that Mr. Ewing may thus have 

 the opportunity of adding to its usefulness and of correcting 

 occasional misprints in the scientific names. 



