Dec. 1903.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBUKGH 437 



tage. Now, if one wants to gather plants at that early 

 period, it is before all things essential that one should go 

 as far south as possible. And a careful comparison of 

 maps and time-tables showed that we could certainly have 

 a day or so longer in the Balearic Islands than in any 

 other spot on the same parallel of latitude. Sicily we 

 intensely desired, and Corsica we greatly longed to see, 

 but the first was too far away, and from the second the 

 return steamers did not fit in. We learnt also, on turning 

 to the books, that we should certainly find in the Balearics 

 a very remarkable and interesting vegetation, richer in 

 extent and in quality than that possessed by any other 

 European district of similar size. Taking the relative 

 areas of Corsica and Sardinia combined, of Sicily, and of 

 the Balearic Isles, it has been estimated that while the 

 first contains 1 endemic species jn 933 sq. kilometres, 

 and the second 1 in 336, the Balearics possess 1 in 95. 

 This group of islands taken together are about equal in 

 area to the county of Somerset, and their native plants 

 comprise nearly 1400 species of flowering plants and 

 ferns. <Jf that number more than 1000 belong also to 

 the peninsula of Spain, and almost as many to Italy, 

 France, and Algeria respectively, showing that when the 

 vegetation is compared as a whole with that of neighbour- 

 ing countries, an evident fact is that, excepting some species 

 that are entirely special, and some others rare and little 

 known that give to it a peculiar character, the flora of the 

 Balearic group is very closely allied to that of the countries 

 named. But the striking feature of this flora is that it 

 contains about 40 species known to grow only in one other 

 country, and 50 which are at present unknown elsewhere 

 in the whole world. 



At 9 A.M. oil 21st April we left Paris for Barcelona, 

 and twenty-four hours later set foot in that big Spanish 

 port. There was time to look around, and for calls at the 

 steamboat office and a bank ; and it may be useful to note 

 that one gets at least a ^;c.5c^« more for an English 

 sovereign in Barcelona or Palma than is given in London. 

 At 2 P.M. we were ofif for Minorca in a small steamer with 

 very small engines, a good deal of cargo, and a good many 

 hours allowed for the voyage. 



