162 THE .TOURXAL OF BOTAXY 



his work on the plants of the county. The Li?>t, which is arranged 

 alphahetically, was noticed at some length in this Journal for 1910 

 (p. 1G6) : here it may suffice to say that in the single line devoted to 

 each species is given the date and authority for Hrst observation and 

 an indication of the distribution through the 18 artificial divisions of 

 county— these in accordance with the map published by Peacock in 

 the Naturalist for 1805, which has been accepted b}^ the Union as 

 the basis of its work dealing with the distribution of species. The 

 List includes names of two varieties of Veronica agrestis and 

 V. Beccahuiifja: we suggested that descriptions of these should be 

 published in this Journal, but the suggestion was not adopted ; they 

 were doubtless of little importance, for Peacock was not a critical 

 botanist, as his note on Primula elatior ( Journ. Bot. 1906, 243) shows. 



As an Geologist, however, Peacock, so far as his limited scope 

 of observation went, stood in the first rank ; his Flora was to have 

 been produced on these lines, and Dr. Tansley, with whom he corres- 

 ponded on the subject, was so much im])ressed b}' the ])erusal of the 

 portion sent to him that he offered to defray tlie cost of publication, 

 if the MS. could be reduced to i-easonable compass. Of this Peacock 

 was unfortunately entirely incapable ; he however accepted with 

 gratitude Dr. Tansley's offer to edit and condense the MS., but 

 shortly after this he became seriously ill, and nothing was done. In 

 his letter to me Dr. Tansley writes : " The observations I sliould put 

 first in value are those on methods of dispersal ; his collection of 

 these, if published in convenient and accessible form, would add 

 enormously to our knowledge of the actual means of dispersal of 

 British species. Second, 1 should put his observations, fo'r each 

 species, of the soils on which it actually occurs. The publication of 

 these two sets of data, in systematic form, would make a woi-k which 

 would be unique, and of the highest interest and value." Few, if any, 

 floras have been ])roduced under circumstances so favourable for 

 observation ; Peacock had always lived in the county, and began his 

 work in 1S73. The MS. of the Flora has been left to the University 

 of Cambridge. 



Of the value of his observations. Peacock's numerous contribu- 

 tions to this Journal— to which, with his consent and even approval, 

 the Procrustean method was somewhat freely applied — sufficiently 

 show: those on "Natives and Aliens" (1908), "Followers and 

 Shunners of Man" (1909). "The Shepherd's Parse and Cultivation," 

 " The Mallow " and " Change of Climate and Woodland vSuccession " 

 (1912), " Index Species in a Flora " (1914), may be cited as examples. 

 Other papers of like nature are published in the Tranfiactions2i\\'ei\.(\\ 

 mentioned — an especially interesting one is that on Seed-dispersal by 

 birds (1919, 14-37) ; and he contributed two pamphlets — Hoiv to 

 make a Bock-soil Flora (1904) and Frequency in Floral Anali/sis 

 (1912) — to the "Kural Studies Series" of pamphlets published 

 at Louth (Gould). Peacock's fir?t communication to this Journal 

 was a note on Limnantliemum in South Lincolnshire (1896, 229) ; 

 his last, a summary of fifty years' observations on the soils and 

 habitats of Hifpcricum lutmifusum in the county (1919, 225) 



James Beitte>-. 



