64 Bibliographical Notice. 



coast level, * ascending' and * upper' stages of elevation ; in five out 

 of the six climatal zones, — i.e. in all except the highest. Occurs in 

 85 of the 112 vice-counties* or subdivisions; belongs to the British 

 type of distribution, or the group universally spread throughout 

 Great Britain." What must have been the amount of labour in the 

 field no less than in the study requisite for the compilation of these 

 fifty pages ! Feeling the difficulty in many cases of assigning a plant 

 precisely to any one of his "types," Mr. Watson has here made use 

 of a second small letter, which indicates the other type to which the 

 distribution of the species most nearly approaches after that indi- 

 cated by the capital letter. 



In Chapter VI. the species are arranged differently. Instead of 

 following each other in systematic order, they are placed according 

 to frequency, beginning with the most common, Ranunculus Flam- 

 mula, down to Epipogium aphyllum> only less rare upon the Conti- 

 nent than in Britain, where a few roots alone have hitherto been 

 discovered ; and this is no critical species, or likely to be mistaken 

 for any other plant. 



The lines in this chapter run thus : — 



Co. 26 Subprovinces. S. N. W. Sc. E. Bentham. 



43. Sagina maritima. 11. 15. 9. 11. 6. procumbens. 



(Occurs in 43 of the 112 counties and vice-counties ; in 26 out of the 

 38 sub-provinces; in 1 1 of the 19 sub-provinces of South Britain; 

 in 15 of the 19 sub-provinces of North Britain ; in 9 of the 12 sub- 

 provinces of the West of England, in 11 of the 13 Scotch, and in 

 6 of the 13 comprised in the East half of England. Joined to S. 

 procumbens, as a variety only, in Mr. Bentham's 'Handbook.') 



For comparison between local floras, we imagine this list should 

 be thus used : — After carefully checking off every species, we should 

 reckon up how many out of each 1st, 2nd, 3rd, &c, hundred are 

 present in our district, and how many absent. Thus the absence of 

 20 species out of the most common hundred might be a more re- 

 markable feature than the presence of 30 of the species between 800 

 and 900. 



In Chapter VII. (" the areas of species") the plants are set in order 

 of latitude from south to north, commencing with such as are re- 

 stricted to Province 1 (Scilly, Land's-end, &c). There are three 

 subdivisions, into — 1. Australs (or plants thinning out northwards) ; 

 2. General or ubiquitous species ; 3. Boreal and montane. A line 

 here is — 



Sect. 5. Southward of 55° Lat. Temp. 48° Fahr. 8°-8 Centigrade. 

 Vicia bithynica. 1. 2. 3. * 5. 6. 7. * * 10. 



From this list are to be deduced the characteristics of each county 



* It will be easily understood that, by the use of this increased number of 

 districts, far greater accuracy is attained than if eighteen Provinces only had been 

 employed, as in the earlier volumes of the ' Cybele.' Still it is believed that the 

 data to be obtained are not as yet sufficient to warrant the use of any more than 

 eighteen districts for the other branches of our fauna and flora. 



