Feb. 1903.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 273 



Bochum, Dortmund und Hageu " (Yerh. d. naturh. Yer. d. 

 Preuss. Eheinlande u. Westfalens, 188-4), employs a com- 

 paratively simple scale in the form of fractions, the 

 numerators of which denote the number of localities 

 thus — 1 in one place, 2 in a few places, 3 in several 

 places, and 4 in many places; while the denominators 

 denote frequency thus — 1 sparingly, 2 commonly, 3 in 

 quantities, e.g. f denotes in a few places in quantities, 

 5 denotes in countless places in very great amount. 



The method I employ for my own notes, after various 

 experiments and rejection of more than one method, is 

 as follows : — 



After a general indication of the habitat {e.g. sand- 

 dunes, meadows, swamps, etc.), and of whether " native " 

 or " alien," with grade if " alien," I use the Greek letters 

 a, /3, y, 8, e to dcuotc the frequency both of localities and 

 of plants within the localities. Thus two simple scales 

 are formed for localities — a denotes in one locality ; fi in 

 two or three in a district, i.e. very local ; y in a good 

 many, yet local ; 5 in many or common ; e everywhere 

 within suitable habitats. Within the localities a denotes 

 only once found ; (^ very rare, yet occasionally met with : 

 y not rare, yet not common, to be found without diffi- 

 culty if looked for ; ^ common ; e abundant, even to 

 exclusion of other species in some cases. These scales are 

 combined readily, the first letter denoting localities, the 

 second the individuals within these. Thus — aa denotes 

 in one locality once found ; ao in one locality, but common 

 there ; c>ft in many localities, but rare within each : ee 

 universally present in suitable habitats, and abundant 

 everywhere. 



On theoretical grounds the areas marked out by parallels 

 of latitude and of longitude have the undoubted advantage 

 of simplicity, if denoted in such a way as to combine brevity 

 with freedom from error ; but to be really useful the areas 

 must not be large. For noting briefly and accurately the 

 localities of plants in field-work, I use the 1-inch Ordnance 

 maps, divided into areas by the minutes of latitude and 

 the even-numbered minutes of longitude. The spaces so 

 marked off are noted by co-ordinates along the margins of 

 the map, these being capital letters from south to north, 



