330 NOTES ON SOME BRITISH CARICES. 



as occurring in Perthshire to the east of that watershed, one of two 

 things will follow. Either the peculiar western distribution of the 

 plant will be obscured, or the Perthshire record will be taken as 

 erroneous. As it happens there are one or two plants which illus- 

 trate this. The most notable of these is Carum verticillatwn, a 

 plant which is permanently confined to the western side of Britain. 

 In Perthshire it forms no exception to this, and yet if it is recorded 

 for Mid Perth or West Perth, it would convey the impression that 

 it is a striking exception, or else an error. A less remarkable 

 instance, and yet one of equal importance as regards this part of 

 Britain, is afforded by Pinf/uicida liisitanica, which also occurs in 

 Glen Falloch. If then Glen Falloch is taken as belonging to 

 either Mid or West Perth, we would have a record of a plant 

 which, except in the extreme north is entirely western, apparently 

 occurring in the eastern part of central Scotland. The reverse of 

 this may also happen, and the records of plants mostly confined to 

 the east, but extending in this district to the west, be made 

 obscure. 



Under the circumstances I have stated, I ask : Where is the west- 

 draining part of Perthshire to be placed ? For my part I think 

 that, if the Watsonian method of dividing the country is to be 

 retained, it must be added to Dumbarton, but in that case the part 

 of Stirling which drains into Loch Lomond must also be added to 

 Dumbarton, if any distinction between the eastern and western 

 sides of the country is to be indicated in the records. Similarly, 

 parts of Argyle and Westerness must be added to Mid Perth, since 

 they lie on the eastern side of the watershed. 



But has the time not come for a redivision of Britain on 

 naturtil principles ? Mr. Watson himself admitted that a better 

 division than the one which he was, in a measure by force of 

 circumstances compelled to adopt, might be found. Now that 

 botanists are more numerous, and since most of the counties have 

 been worked out, it would surely not be impossible to make a 

 census of the British plants according to the great river-basins or 

 similar natural divisions. For the most part it would be merely a 

 re-arrangement of the material already collected, with the great 

 advantage of perspicuously showing the more important features of 

 the distribution of our plants, — features which the present arrange- 

 ment of counties and vice-counties rather conceals than demon- 

 strates. It seems to me, that in adhering to the Watsonian 

 divisions, botanists have failed to carry out to its proper extent the 

 scheme which Mr. Watson had in view. 



NOTES ON SOME BRITISH CARICES. 



By Arthur Bennett, F.L.S. 



Prof. L. H. Bailey, of the Cornell University, U.S.A., last year 

 paid a visit to Europe, and was enabled to study the types of Carex 

 in a large number of European herbaria, finding it impossible to 



