THE BOTANICAL GAZETTE 201 



A perusal of its contents clearly shows that its editor re- 

 garded his journal as one of the instruments of diffusing the 

 New Botany. Having to rely largely for his subscribers upon 

 the amateur collector he points out in the prefatory note that 

 a feature will be made not only of home botany but also of 

 contributions or abstracts from abroad dealing with floras which 

 have much in common with our own. For the benefit of those 

 whose collections had reached considerable dimensions, and for 

 whom the lack of new plants might connote a waning stimulus, 

 he held out the further inducement of papers on the general 

 anatomy of familiar plants, of which an excellent example by 

 Thilo Irmisch on the stolons of Epilobium was included in the 

 first number. 



For the three years of its existence Henfrey kept faith with 

 the British botanists and a number of The Botanical Gazette 

 rarely appeared without an article contrived for their edification. 

 The task was evidently a congenial one, for Henfrey had a 

 sound knowledge of British plants with especial reference to 

 geographical distribution and critical forms. Unlike several 

 later exponents of the New Botany, Henfrey was quite able 

 to hold his own with the systematists. He more than once 

 expresses the opinion that there was too great a tendency to 

 lump species in the handbooks to the Flora, and he urged on 

 the occasion of the preparation of the third edition of the 

 London Catalogue of British Plants that many more forms 

 should find recognition. The editors of the catalogue however 

 successfully opposed the suggestion on the ingenious grounds 

 that it would raise the weight for postage beyond the limits of 

 a blue (twopenny) stamp ! 



Henfrey thought much might be done by cultivation under 

 varying conditions to settle vexed questions as to critical species, 

 and suggested that a limited number of botanists in different 

 parts of the country should co-operate in a scheme under which 

 seed should annually be distributed, harvested and re-distributed 

 among those taking part. Henfrey himself offered to undertake 

 the somewhat onerous duty of receiving and distributing 

 the seed and of generally correlating the work. As however 

 his proposal was merely tagged on to a note on Sagina 



