278 TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Skss. Lxvii. 



certain counties, in the confident belief that many of these 

 gaps will soon be filled. Probably materials exist in 

 herbaria to add largely to what is on record. 



In a compilation like the present, errors as well as 

 omissions are inevitable ; but it is hoped that they will be 

 pointed out and corrected, and that it may aid in stimu- 

 lating the progress of inquiry. 



The south-east of Scotland was the earliest part of the 

 country to receive investigation of its flora, Edinburgh 

 being the centre where the study of botany began in 

 Scotland. Sir Robert Sibbald's " Scotia Illustrata," issued 

 at Edinburgh in 1684, contains much information, though 

 in a form unfamiliar to us, about the plants known to him, 

 and he frequently mentions localities for plants, mostly in 

 the valley of the Forth, besides giving a list of species " in 

 septo regio Edinburgensi sponte nascentium." Lightfoot's 

 "Flora Scotica," which appeared in 1778, and again in 

 1789, gave a very great impulse to the study of the flora 

 of Scotland. The information it contains on the basin of 

 the Forth was derived mostly from Professor Hope, and 

 from Mr. Yalden, who supplied a list of the plants found 

 in the King's Park, and from the herbarium made by Dr. 

 Parsons (Professor of Anatomy in Oxford), while studying 

 in Edinburgh. Comparatively few localities in the district 

 are named by him. 



But a more important contribution to our knowledge of 

 the flora of Edinburgh in the eighteenth century appeared 

 only in 1900 in the "Annals of Scottish Natural History" 

 in "A list of plants growing in the neighbourhood of Edin- 

 burgh, collected in flower 1765 (1764—65), as a sketch of 

 the Calendarium Florse of Edinburgh." Of this, found 

 among the papers left by Professor Hope, and bequeathed 

 by his grandson, John Hope, W.S., in 1895, to the Royal 

 Botanic Garden, a copy was communicated to me by 

 Professor Balfour for publication. The records are not 

 quite so restricted as the heading implies. 



Greville's "Flora Edinensis " (1824) is devoted to the 

 " Flora of the environs of the Scottish Metropolis," " to 

 the distance of ten miles," " with very few exceptions." 

 The localities are seldom quoted from the earlier records, 

 but are mostly based on the field work of the author, 



