46 The Scottish Naturalist. 



KEYIEf. 



THE LONDON CATALOGUE OF BRITISH PLANTS. 



Eighth Edition. London : G. Bell & Sons. 



Considering the small area of the British Isles, the additions made to their Flora 

 since the publication of the seventh edition of the London Catalogue are very 

 numerous. Nyman's Conspectus of the European Flora did a great deal to- 

 direct attention to the possibility of many plants not yet on record being dis- 

 covered in Britain, while credit is specially clue to Mr. Arthur Bennett for his 

 power in stimulating workers, and his critical skill in distinguishing species. 

 A considerable number of these additions are, directly or indirectly, due to 

 him. It was Dr. Boswell's wish that Mr. Bennett should compile the new 

 edition ; and the present compiler, Mr. F. J. Hanbury, has obtained his assist- 

 ance the genera Potamogeton, Juncus, and Carex being arranged entirely by 

 him. The Rosce have been attended to by Mr. J. G. Baker ; the Rubi by 

 Professor Babington ; and the Characece by the Messrs. Groves. With coad- 

 jutors like these, it was quite certain that Mr. Hanbury's list would represent 

 British Botany in a far more direct degree than did the previous editions of the 

 catalogue, and he deserves the grateful thanks of British botanists for the man- 

 ner in which he has executed his task ; while his promise to keep up the types,. 

 so that future editions will appear after shorter intervals than has previously 

 been the case, is highly to be commended. 



As must necessarily be the case in such publications, there are a few typo- 

 graphical errors, among which may be noticed Mathiola for Jlfaithiola ; Opiz 

 for Opitz ; Power, on page 13, for Pourr. ; Herm., on page 14, for Herrm. ; 

 diochroa, on page 34, for dichroa ; Haeck., on'page 36, for Hackel ; etc. 



The census number should be omitted after Spiraea salicifolia, and it 

 should be inserted after Agrimonia Eupatoria and A. odorata. I, for Ireland, 

 should be inserted after Asplenium Clermontce (if specific rank indeed be given 

 to it), and after Equisetum Moorei. The variety of Isoetes is Morei, not 

 Moorei. 



Aster salignus, Astragalus hypoglottis, Myrrhis odorata, Calystegia sepium y 

 and Carex grypus do not take capital letters for the specific name. 



An asterisk might well be prefixed to Chelidonium laciniatum, Taxus 

 fastigiata, and Fraxinus heterophylla. Linaria supina should be in italics. 



The changes in nomenclature are very numerous. There are few British 

 botanists who would not be puzzled at first to identify their Herbarium speci- 

 mens with, for instance, Thalictrum saxatile D.C., Festuca dumetorurn Linn., 

 or F. fallax Th., and the synonyms in such cases as these might well have been 

 inserted, since the catalogue is used not only as an index list, but also as a 

 medium for exchange purposes. In the names of genera, which follow 

 Bentham and Hooker's Genera Plantarum, the synonyms are frequently given. 

 Numerous as the changes in terminology are, (parenthetically, thanks are chiefly 

 due for them to the unwearied efforts of the present editor of the Journal of 

 Botany, Mr. J. Britten, to bring our plant names to a more correct standard), 

 they are not quite exhaustive. Medicago arabica, All. , should take precedence 



