250 The Irish Naturalist, [October, 1900, 



Flora of Bournemouth, including the Isle of Purbeck, being an 

 account of the flowering plants, ferns, &c., of the country within a 

 twelve-mile radius of the centre of Bournemouth. By Edward F. 

 IvTNTON, M.A., Oxon. 8vo. 10+290 pp. Map. Bournemouth: 

 published by the author [1900]. Price 85-. ^d. 



Mr. Linton has given us a pretty and pleasant book. While clearly 

 intended for popular use, its scientific accuracy is in no way impaired 

 thereby. The Bournemouth area embraces portions of two counties, and 

 in the preparation of his work our author had the great advantage of the 

 existence of a comprehensive Flora of each of the counties concerned — 

 Townsend's " Flora of Hampshire " (1883), and Mansell-Pleydell's "Flora 

 of Dorset " (2nd ed., 1895) ; but the great bulk of the localities given are 

 original, and represent the work of the author, and such valuable 

 assistants as Rev. W. R. Linton, Rev. W. Moyle Rogers, and many 

 others. The distribution of each plant in the prescribed area has been 

 worked out in great detail. The Introduction is useful and concise, 

 with paragraphs on topography, climate, geology, botanical divisions, 

 and comparison of the floras of the two counties, and of the six divisions 

 into which the Bournemouth area is divided : also a key to less known 

 localities, recommended walks, and Latin and English vocabulary — 

 features unusual in such works, but useful in popularizing a know^ledge 

 of local botan5\ We are surjjrised to find no history of Bournemouth 

 botany or botanists, nor any bibliography : this strikes us as an unhappy 

 omission. Another important point not referred to is the general extent 

 and character of the flora, and its analysis, showing its relation to the 

 flora of England in general and the adjoining districts. 



In the body of the work all plants, from natives to the merest casuals, 

 appear in the same type. While giving a look of pleasant uniformity to 

 the pages, the ver}^ unequal value of the entries so displayed is hardly 

 made sufiiciently clear by the word " outcast," "introduced," or "casual," 

 in the line succeeding the heading ; no attempt is made to distinguish 

 truly indigenous species from colonists or denizens. Even plants which 

 are probably errors, such as Viola stagnina, appear in the same type as 

 the best established natives. 



The working out of the distribution of the plants is excellent, and the 

 critical genera have received an amount of attention that is very seldom 

 possible in a local flora. The book is excellentl}' printed and neatly 

 bound, and should prove invaluable to the l)otanist at Bournemouth, 

 whether resident, migratory, or casual. 



R. Li., p. 



