218 FLOEA OF HEREFORDSHIRB. 



in themselves sufficient guarantee that the result would be both 

 correct and thorough. A perusal of its pages quite justifies this 

 anticipation, and every student of the distribution and criticism of 

 British plants should have a copy on his shelves. It is clear that 

 no pains have been spared to ensure the greatest possible accuracy, 

 the temptation to swell the county list by including doubtful 

 records being steadily and consistently fought against. 



The number of phanerogams and higher cryptogams admitted 

 as native slightly exceeds 900 ; 283 mosses are given, one of which 

 is for the first time published as British, and no fewer than 1097 

 fungi. The late Dr. H. G. Bull, of Hereford, very largely con- 

 tributed, alike by his own indefatigable industry and his power of 

 interesting others in the subject, to the last-named section, with 

 results probably unapproached hitherto in any English district of 

 the same area. Herefordshire Lichens and Algae are not yet 

 sufficiently worked out to find a place here. The editors have 

 received a considerable amount of local help, which is fully 

 acknowledged ; and have also benefited greatly by the co-operation 

 of such leading botanists as the late Dr. Boswell, Mr. H. 0. Watson, 

 the Rev. W. W. Newbould, Prof. Babington, Dr. Cooke, and Messrs. 

 J. G. Baker, Archer Briggs, Arthur Bennett, Leefe, and Worthing- 

 ton Smith. But they have not scrupled to express their own opinion 

 when it differed from that of an acknowledged authority. 



The task of writing has been simplified by the comparatively 

 small amount of previous printed records, Mr. Lees' ' Botany of 

 Malvern ' beiug the only work bearing much on the county botany. 

 The nomenclature is taken from the ' London Catalogue,' ed. 7, 

 much of the MS. having apparently been in the printer's hands 

 before the publication of the eighth edition. Owing to the present 

 chaotic state of our plant-names, the drawback is not so great, 

 perhaps, as might have been supposed. Attention is frequently 

 called to the **agrestal" character of the flora as a whole, that of 

 the Black Mountain, on the Brecknockshire border, being the most 

 important exception. A list is given of the more prominent 

 secondary hills, with their elevations, varying from 660 to nearly 

 1600 feet ; also an analysis of the phanerogams, according to 

 Watson's "types of distribution." About one-half of the whole 

 number are referred to the British class, one- quarter to the English, 

 the rest being made up as follows : — 25 Scottish, 9 Intermediate, 

 4 Highland, 21 Germanic, 15 Atlantic, and 9 Local. 



Some concise but interesting notes on the climate, contributed 

 by Mr. Henry Southall, close the thoroughly practical Preface. 

 Thirty -seven introductory pages are devoted to the definition of the 

 rather numerous (fourteen) districts, based partly on drainage, 

 partly on geological features, and, in no small degree, on the 

 eccentricities of the county border-line ; with notes on the geology 

 of each, from the pen of the Rev. W. S. Symonds. He writes: — 

 " I cannot close this notice of the Geology of Herefordshire without 

 remarking that there are few localities where the great lessons in 



geology may be more easily learnt the two lessons of 



upheaval and erosion may be studied without difficulty." The 



