HA ED WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



171 



with little spare time who have done some good 

 work ; in fact, more so than many with plenty of 

 leisure. 



Some have urged, "We cannot send our notes 

 anywhere;" but this is wrong, with the numerous 

 natural history journals, and in nearly every county 

 there is now some scientific society (a long list of 

 these societies was published in this journal a few 

 years ago), and now many are linked together in 

 "Unions;" for example, "The East of Scotland 

 Natural History Union," "The Yorkshire Natu- 

 ralists' Union," and the Midland. We want such 

 for the South of England ; or, if the ground is 

 thought too wide, the south-east and south-west. 

 These societies are of great benefit, as bringing under 

 more experienced eyes the work of the several ones 

 affiliated to them, and the chances of errors being 

 disseminated becomes much less. 



We cannot grumble at the want of good books in 

 our flora, with such books as Babington's " Manual," 

 Hooker's "Student's Flora," and Bentham's " Hand- 

 book ;" it is probable that at no time have such 

 accurate and full Floras been extant. Yet, even now, 

 my own impression is that we have still a great deal 

 more to learn of the life-histories of our plants than is 

 usually thought. 



- Of course, the botanist who really wants to know 

 all he can about our plants will not be contented 

 with these Floras even, but will seek more extended 

 information in such works as Symes's " English 

 •Botany" (3rd ed.), now to be found in most good 

 libraries where books are lent out. 



If he can read French, I would advise him to get 

 the last edition of Lloyd's "Flore de 1'ouest de la 

 France;" if Latin, Koch's "Synopsis of the Ger- 

 man and Swiss Floras." Unfortunately, I know of 

 no book so accessible as these for Scandinavian 

 plants. Fries' are now getting old, and the admirable 

 " Handbook" of Hartman is written in Swedish. 



But our botanist must not make the mistake (as 

 Professor Babington remarks in his "Manual") of 

 thinking that he has found a new British plant 

 because it seems to fit the description of a Continental 

 species ; but a reference to Professor Babington or 

 Mr. J. G. Baker would soon decide what he had 

 gathered, to both of whom we owe so much of the 

 great advance in British botany since 1843. 



Another thing we much want in British botany is, 

 that more botanists would take up the study of 

 particular orders and genera, and work at them with 

 a view to correlating our forms with the W. European 

 ones. It may not be out of place here to name some 

 of those who will be glad of help in the respective 

 genera (it is needless here to name Professor Babing- 

 ton for rubi, or Mr. Baker for the roses), such as 

 Mr. Hanbury for Hieracia (who is engaged on an 

 illustrated monograph of the British species), Mr. F. 

 Townsend for Erythraea and Euphrasia, Mr. Beeby 

 for Spargania and Junci, the Messrs. Groves for 



Characese, and I myself should be glad of help in 

 Potamogeton (as would my good friend Mr. Fryer of 

 Chatteris), Carex or Salix. But we still want many 

 others taken up, such as the Batrachian Ranunculi, 

 Potentilla, Mentha, Rumex, Atriplex, &c, and 

 some of the genera of grasses as Agrostis, Poa, or 

 Festuca. 



It is only fair to say, that where specimens are 

 asked to be returned, stamps should be sent to cover 

 postage by parcel post, as this is now an inexpensive 

 way of sending specimens. A large number may be 

 sent in one parcel, if care is taken to use thin paper ; 

 it matters little how thin the paper is, so long as 

 the outside covers are stout and tightly bound by 



string. 



If these crude notes, written as they are as a sort 

 of general reply to many queries, should stimulate to 

 the study more, and the rarity hunting less among 

 our flora, I shall be content. 



NOTES ON THE FLORA OF THE 

 SOUTH DOWNS. 



MR. LAMB has already given an interesting 

 paper on the Flora of the North Downs, and 

 perhaps a few notes on the South Downs around 

 Lewes may be useful as a further illustration of the 

 flora of the chalk formation. 



As might be expected, many of the species are 

 identical, but there are some few exceptions and 

 additions. 



The Chalk Hills of East Sussex are remarkably 

 free from wood, except some few plantations chiefly 

 on the northern slopes ; they thus differ very much 

 from the Downs of West Sussex and of Kent. 



It may be convenient to divide the plants into 

 three divisions — those of the open clown ; those of 

 the cultivated tracts, which tracts have lately been 

 much on the increase, and those of the woods. 



Taking the open down first, the most noticeable 

 plants are Poteriuni sanguisorba, Hippocrepis comosa, 

 Ononis arvensis, Phyteuma orbicularc, Scabiosa colum- 

 baria, Anthyllis vulneraria, and its variety Diltenii, 

 Spinea Jilipendula, Pimpinella saxifraga, Aspenda 

 cynanchka, Polygala vulgaris and calcarea, Liiuim 

 catharticum, Phymus serpyllum, Cnicus acaulis, 

 Carlina vulgaris, Gcntiana amarclla and campestris, 

 Orchis ustulatci, Ophrys apifera, Gymnadenia conopsea, 

 Phesium humifusum, Scnccio campestris, Ccrastium 

 semidecandrum, Orchis pyramidalis, mascula and 

 morio, Habenaria viridis, Ophrys aranifera, and 

 Herminium monorchis, Helianthcmum vulgare, and 

 Viola Jlavicornis—ZL dwarf form of Viola hirta also 

 occurs, which does not seem to be quite the same 

 as the Viola calcarea of Cambridgeshire. The bulk 

 of the turf consists of Festuca ovina, and Bromus 

 erectus, with here and there an admixture of Kceleria 

 cristata, B-riza media, Avena Jlavescens, and on the 



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