211 THE XATURAL HISTORY REVIEW. 



The comparison of Great Britain with the Montpellier district 

 may in one sense be thought to be somewhat unfair, for the one 

 region is five times as broad from east to west, and above ten times 

 as long from south to north, as the other ; but, on the other hand, 

 the number of species contained in the former is, we believe, not 

 two-thirds of those of the latter ; and, moreover, after deducting the 

 widely-spread species common to both regions, the proportion of 

 species of limited general areas is much smaller in Britain than in 

 Montpellier; the area of a species in Britain is, on an average, a much 

 smaller portion of its general area than at Montpellier. Thus the 

 British region, although so much larger when measured in miles, is 

 in fact smaller in its botanical relations. And, in climate, the contrast 

 between the Aigoual and the Esperou, and the scorched arid wastes 

 about Montpellier, is almost as great as between the Scotch highlands 

 and the southern counties of England. 



The direct or intentional extirpation of rare plants by man does 

 not appear to have been much more effective in Britain than at 

 Montpellier. Collectors of various descriptions have indeed been 

 very much more numerous, but the real botanist has generally some 

 feeling that the rare species should remain in situ for future visits, 

 or as evidence of his discovery, which restrains him from utterly 

 destroying ; the mere tourist amateur or occasional visitor does not 

 take sufficient pains to hunt out every individual ; and the interested 

 dealer, the only one really to be feared, has, we believe, acted rather 

 differently with us than at Montpellier. Those we have there met 

 with have endeavoured to destroy every plant they could not make a 

 specimen of, in order to prevent others from collecting and interfering 

 with their own sale, our own local dealers and botanical guides have 

 rather directed their efforts to conceal and preserve stations only 

 known to themselves. Such, at least, is said to be the case with the 

 Lloydia of Snowdon and the Cotoneaster of Great Ormes Head, 

 which the ordinary tourist searches for in vain, but of which we are 

 told individuals in situ are still known to the guides. It has been 

 stated even that old stations have been artificially re-established or 

 new ones created in our mountains for TricJiomanes radicans, and 

 some others. "We cannot, indeed, recall any species which have ac- 

 tually become extinct from the depredations of collectors, except 

 perhaps Cypripediuin calceolus, now sought for in vain at its old sta- 

 tion near Settle, in Yorkshire, although some believe it to be still 

 there, and the Cheddar Pink, specimens of which we are told can 



