4 2 
from readers of the four papers owned by the 
proprietors of the Somerset County Herald, in 
which prizes were offered for tne best lists 
of the mot interesting local names of flowers 
used in the district in which the competitor 
resided. All the lists received in each of these 
competitions were carefully pigeon-holed, but no 
attempt was made to use them in any way until 
the question quoted above induced me tostart get- 
ting the many hundreds of names they contained 
intosomething like order. An appeal forhelp and 
the offer of further prizes through the columns of 
the Company’s four newspapers in November 
last brought in some hundreds of new names 
to be added to the list, and at the same time 
made it very evident that there were hundreds 
of other local names still to be obtained if one 
could only find the means of getting them. I 
thereupon approached a large number of school- 
masters and mistresses in different parts of the 
county with a view to securing their interest and 
help in collecting such local names from their 
scholars, and although by far the greater part of 
those to whom I appealed ignored my letters 
entirely, a number of masters and mistresses 
were kind enough to bring my request before 
their boys and girls, from many of whom I 
received exceedingly interesting and useful lists 
of names. Unfortunately my helpers, both old 
and young alike, were not always absolutely 
reliable in the information they gave, and my 
own knowledge of the plants and of their local 
names—particularly those in distant parts of 
the county to which I was a stranger—has in 
many cases not been sufficient for me to be quite 
sure of my ground in including some of these 
local names in my list and in attaching to them 
the scientific names of the plants which I believe 
were intended by the senders. I have thought 
it well, however, after exercising every possible 
care, to include for the present a number of 
names which I cannot myself guarantee, but 
which are given upon the authority of corres- 
pondents in the districts which I have named ; 
and I hope that many readers of this paper who 
are interested in the subject may be able to con- 
firm—or, if necessary, to correct—some of these 
names, with regard to which my present informa- 
tion is not as complete or as satisfactory as I 
would wish. Several of the best botanists in 
the county have very kindly promised to look 
through proofs of myl st beicre it appears inthe 
paper, and I have no doubt that their greater 
knowledge of the subject and the fact that they 
are familiar with the local names used in the 
different parts of the county in which they reside 
will not only add considerably to the length of 
my original list, but will save me from making 
any serious mi:takes into which without their 
assistance I might possibly have fallen. 
