184 



internal evidence, the author of the work has enjoyed few opportuni- 

 ties for examining the botany of the tract which he has undertaken to 

 illlustrate, or else he is too partially familiar with plants to have been 

 able to identify all the species. Some very common species are 

 wholly omitted, few or none of which can readily be supposed 

 absentees from the vicinity of Tenby ; for example, Ranunculus acris, 

 Papaver dubium, Cardamine hirsuta, Stellaria graminea, Stellaria ho- 

 lostea, Cerastium triviale, Trifolium procumbens, &c, &c. And many 

 others are inserted on the authority of Mr. T. B. Flower, as " noticed 

 during a short visit made to Tenby in 1847," which seems to justify 

 an inference that these also had escaped the notice of the author of 

 the work, common as they are known to be in other parts of England 

 and Wales, and we can scarcely suppose them uncommon about Ten- 

 by; examples occur in Sagina procumbens, Arenaria serpyllifolia, 

 Potentilla fragariastrum, Angelica sylvestris, Heracleum Sphondylium, 

 Daucus Carota, Scabiosa succisa, Lapsana communis, Stachys sylvati- 

 ca, Euphorbia Peplus, Holcus lanatus, &c, &c. 



From this internal evidence, it may readily be presumed that the 

 title of the work is literally true ; and that it must be received only 

 as a contribution towards a catalogue of Tenby plants. We suppose 

 it to be from the hand of Dr. Randle Wilbrahara Falconer, the Pre- 

 face being subscribed by the initials " R. W. F.," and dated at Tenby. 

 But the name of the author is omitted on the title-page, and the pub- 

 lication consequently is anonymous, however transparently so. We 

 could wish this were otherwise, and cannot at all understand the mo- 

 tive which prompts an author to print scientific facts anonymously, 

 and thus greatly to lessen their value, through the uncertainty or even 

 distrust which will of course attach to unacknowledged statements of 

 fact. In looking through the list of species, we have not detected 

 any improbabilities, and therefore conclude it to be credit-worthy so 

 far as it goes. C. 



Notice of the ' Flora Hertfordiensis : being A Catalogue of Plants 

 knoivn, or reported, to grow wild, in the county of Hertford, 

 with the Stations of the Rarer Species. By the Rev. R. H. 

 Webb, Rector of Essendon ; assisted by the Rev. H. Coleman, 

 and by various Correspondents. Pamplin, London. 1848. 

 Parti.' 



This Flora has been long looked for ; and it comes at length in an 



