Memoir of the late Thomas Purton, Esq. 609 



equal to the size of the first two volumes, and contains 

 numerous additions and corrections to them, and is embel- 

 lished with thirty beautiful coloured engravings, chiefly of 

 the cryptogam ic species, from drawings by Mr. Bree and Mr. 

 Rufford ; also by his daughter, Miss F. L. Purton, and his 

 relative, Miss M. Cooper. The additions in this volume 

 amount to 591 species; the whole, therefore, contains a list 

 of ] 604 species, the greater portion of which, particularly the 

 Cryptogamia, were most accurately investigated. Indeed, the 

 frequent quotations from its pages show the esteem in which 

 the work is held, though it has often been objected to it, and 

 not without some reason, that the numerous additions and 

 corrections of the last volume make it a very inconvenient 

 work for general reference. These were, however, inseparable 

 from the nature of the work ; for new plants are continually 

 discovered, even upon ground trodden year after year by the 

 most lynx-eyed botanist. Professor Lindley mentions the 

 17'lmus carpinifdlia as being found in the neighbourhood of 

 Alcester, on a road which must have been often traversed by 

 Mr. Purton ; and the author of this memoir has also found 

 some not far from Mr. Purton's residence, as Galeopsis versi- 

 color and Gastridium lendigerum, whose localities are unde- 

 scribed in the Flora. Were, indeed, the author alive, and 

 able to undertake a complete revision of the work, an im- 

 mense number of new plants, and habitats for rarer ones, 

 might be added. Still it may be hoped, from the great 

 impulse given to botanical and other natural history pursuits, 

 at the present time, in the midland counties, particularly 

 Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and Salop, that some one, 

 who could give his time and attention to the labour required, 

 would undertake a complete revision of the Midland Flora, 

 comprising within the term the several counties of Warwick, 

 Worcester, Salop, Stafford, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, 

 Northampton, and Oxford. Of these, the general botanical 

 details are tolerably well known, with the exception of Staf- 

 ford, which, I believe, has been generally but little investi- 

 gated ; though, from its comprising Cannock Chase and the re- 

 mains of several ancient forests within its boundaries, it would 

 present, I should conceive, no meagre field to an enterprising 

 and assiduous collector. The growing interest and import- 

 ance of the science need scarcely here be insisted upon, and 

 the writer of this article may therefore be excused for quoting 

 the following words of Mr. Purton, from the Appendix to 

 the Midland Flora, words which, doubtless, many a peruser 

 of them will heartily respond to : — 



Si In choosing the study of botany as a relaxation from the 

 Vol. IX. — No. 67. yy 



