Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ixiii. (191 8) No. 1 5 



in 1796, was, we learn from a letter, presented to Dalton in 1797. 

 This edition was published in four volumes. Dalton's copy, 

 consisting of the last three, which may have been all he 

 possessed, is preserved in the Society's I^ibrary ; it contains a certain 

 number of marginal notes in Dalton's handwriting. This edition 

 is specifically referred to in a few entries, e.g., Verbascum thapso- 

 nigruni, VI. 15 ; Gerattmm iancastriense, IV. 4. 



Of the 864 different plants in the collection, though a certain number 

 were left unnamed, only thirty-seven are wrongly identified, and three of 

 these are misidentifications that were in all the floras of that date : 

 Delphinium ajacis as D. consolida, Crocus nudiflorus as C. sativus, 

 and Bryonia dioica as B. alba. This last one is certainly corrected in the 

 third edition of Withering. Of the other thirty-four, thirteen were 

 specimens sent by friends, whose identification Dalton probably 

 accepted without question. When we consider the very meagre 

 descriptions in the floras at his command and the impossibility of 

 access to authoritatively named specimens, this very small number 

 of errors, redounds the greatest credit to Dalton's botanical skill. 

 His modest estimate, in reference to the first volumes, in a letter to 

 Crosthwaite is amply borne out : " I am not so confident in my 

 abilities as to maintain that I have given no plant a wrong name, but 

 I believe the skilful botanist will find very few, if any, miscalled." 



In addition to the names written in Dalton's handwriting, there are 

 a few corrections and emendations in other hands in pencil. 

 Those referring to the vascular plants were the work of the late Rev. 

 W. W. Newbould, the friend and correspondent of Babington, who, 

 we learn from Mr. Charles Bailey, examined the collection in the 

 Public Library in 1885. Newbould, who died in 1886, prepared 

 a manuscript list of the contents, which was given to Mr. Bailey, 

 who was, however, unfortunately never able to make use of it. 



The localities for the specimens in the collection are by no 

 means all complete. In many cases, more especially in the 

 later volumes, the records are quite vague or merely consist of 

 the name or initials of the collector or donor. But many are 

 fully localised. It is unfortunate that very few are dated. The 

 first four volumes consist almost entirely of plants from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Dalton's then home in Kendal, and should prove of 

 the utmost value to anyone working at the flora of the north-west 

 of England, though it is impossible here to consider in detail these 

 records. The records from the Manchester district are not very 

 numerous, and consist for the most part of common plants still to 

 be found in the outer suburban regions. Of plants certainly lost 

 from the neighbourhood there is Osmunda regalis (IV. 22), labelled 

 as from " Moss Side, near Manchester." This fern has been entirely 

 eradicated from the district. The collection contains a few 



