56 Proceedings. 



the eastern counties and becoming scarce westward. Eighteen 

 of them occur in Ireland, but only five of them reach the west 

 coast of Ireland. The title Germanic has reference only to 

 their distribution in the British Isles, and has no reference to 

 any supposed centre on the Continent from which the species 

 may be thought to have spread. Amongst these is Cleumtis 

 Vitalba, which ranges north-westward only as far as Stafford 

 and Denbighshire. They include two Hellebores, four Silenes, 

 three Oaliums, eight Umbelliferous plants, seven Leguminiferee, 

 and fourteen Orchidacem. 



6. Atlantic. — Conversely, about 70 species are at home in 

 the western counties, and absent from the eastern or occurring 

 in greatly reduced numbers as the eastern sea-board is 

 approached. Amongst the best known of this type of distri- 

 bution are Rubia j^eregrina and CritJummi maritimum (which 

 grow sparingly as far east as the Kentish coast) ; Wahlenbergia 

 hederacea and Scutellaria minor (abundant in parts of Sussex), 

 Asparagus officinalis, Asplenium marinuni, a.nd Adiantum Capillus- 

 Veneris. Amongst the most recent additions to the flora of 

 Sm-rey is Rhynchospora fusca, a sedge belonging to the Atlantic 

 type of distribution, the bogs of West Surrey being its eastern- 

 most limit in England, although it is found in North Europe as 

 well as in N.E. America. Many of these plants of the Atlantic 

 distribution are moisture-loving species, common to Portugal, 

 Asturias, and the Biscay coasts of France, and more than half 

 of them occur in Ireland. 



Having thus roughly accounted for about 1500 species, we 

 have now to deal with the rarities of local distribution. 



These suggest problems very hard to solve. Which of these 

 are suiwivals of a species once abundant? and which are 

 aliens that have gained a footing tlu-ough the seed or roots 

 being carried to the station where the plants are now found ? 



The number of species recorded for one county only is 81 ; 

 for two counties only, 46 ; including representatives of most 

 of the natural orders. As we should expect to find, the 

 counties in which most of these rarities occur are on our sea- 

 board. 



Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset contain 32 out of the 173 



