322 THE FLORA. OF IPERTHSHIRE. 



for books of its class ; aud although we should have been glad to 

 have had more biographical details as to former workers, we are 

 inclined to condone their omission in face of the excellent botanical 

 notes which the volume contains. 



The introductory matter, after a modest preface by the editor, 

 Prof. Trail, contains a paper ''On the Origin of the Flora of Perth- 

 shire," by Dr. Buchanan White, of whom a memoir (with portrait) 

 and bibliography follows ; then comes the introduction proper, 

 dealing with the divisions and physical features of the county, the 

 method employed to show distribution, and earliest records. These 

 have every appearance of being well and carefully done; in any 

 case they can only be criticized by one possessing a knowledge of 

 the county which the present reviewer cannot claim. After the 

 Flora proper (which is limited to the flowering plants, ferns, and 

 Characem) comes an appendix, in which are enumerated such papers 

 bearing on the flora as have appeared since Dr. White's death, and 

 other "information derived from various sources," which we are 

 inclined to regret that the editor did not incorporate, or at least 

 indicate, in the body of the w^ork, as it is at present in danger 

 of being overlooked. The index deserves a word of commendation, 

 as it includes the names of species as well as of genera. Other 

 matters which deserve a word of praise are the careful and excellent 

 printing of the book and its moderate price. The nomenclature is 

 mainly that of the last edition of the London Catalogue. 



In certain genera the editor acknowledges help from specialists 

 — e. g. to Mr. F. J. Hanbury and the Messrs. Groves for Hieracium 

 aud the C/i«r«C6'« respectively, the Rev. E. S. Marshall iov EpUobimn, 

 and Mr. Arthur Bennett for Potariiogeton. Certain others, left in- 

 complete by the author, have been elaborated by the editor and by 

 Mr. W. Barclay. The Ruhi were seen and annotated by the late 

 Prof. Babington, and the Roses by Mr. J. G. Baker and Mr. 

 Nicholson, whose withdrawal from active work among British 

 plants is much to be regretted ; the late views of the Rev. W. 

 Moyle Rogers and of Prof. Crepin on these genera are referred to 

 in the Appendix. The notes on the Carices seem very careful and 

 interesting. 



The British Museum Herbarium has been consulted, but the 

 material it affords is by no means exhausted, especially as to the 

 very interesting specimens from Robert Brown and his con- 

 temporary the Rev. William McRitchie, minister of Cluny, which 

 sometimes supplement the information given in the Flora. Thus 

 Brown is quoted as saying of Ranunculus Flamimda var. pseudo- 

 reptans (in the Linnean Society's Herbarium) : " It is undoubtedly 

 nothing more than a variety of It. Flammula, as Haller has well 

 observed. I have a set of specimens that put this matter beyond a 

 doubt. August 1793." This set of specimens is in the British 

 Museum. Under Silene anglica we read in the Flora: "In 

 Withering' s Herbarium there is a label (written by R. Brown ?) 

 which records S. anglica as .... in Perthshire." In the British 

 Museum Herbarium is a specimen from McRitchie labelled 

 " 5 August 1793. Mr. Brown found it in the parish of Clunie 



