185 



elaborated form which places it much in advance of all it predecessors. 

 The First Part includes only the order Ranunculaceas of the Flora, 

 treated in full ; but a map of the county, and forty pages of valuable 

 introductory matter, are prefixed ; and these we can strongly recom- 

 mend to the attention and imitation of those botanists who may be 

 sufficiently zealous in the cause of science, to give the requisite time 

 and thought to the working out of a Flora on a complete and scienti- 

 fically serviceable plan. 



The map of the county is distinguished by colours into three prin- 

 cipal Divisions, those of the rivers Lea, Colne, and Ouse ; the latter 

 being comparatively a small portion of the county, bordering on the 

 shires of Cambridge and Bedford. These three chief divisions are 

 subdivided into twelve minor Districts. The county in general, the 

 divisions, and the subordinate districts are carefully and well describ- 

 ed, in reference to their physical geography, by the Rev. W. H. Cole- 

 man ; and the number of species ascertained to occur in each divi- 

 sion and district, is set forth in the description. There is likewise a 

 list of all the species which have not been ascertained to occur in 

 every one of the twelve districts, arranged in a tabular form, with a 

 line of Nos. and blanks opposite the name of each species ; thus show- 

 ing at a glance within which of the twelve districts each respective 

 species has hitherto been found, as also those from which it is still a 

 desideratum. This tabular list is a particularly valuable addition to 

 the work. Signs are employed to distinguish the " scarcely natural- 

 ized " (*) and the " probably introduced species " (f) from the rest. 

 The Introduction is wound up by two pages of smartly penned, but 

 quite good-humoured, semi-satirical lines, appropriately in place ; 

 having been addressed to the authors, by wa\ r of remonstrance on their 

 delay in bringing out the promised publication. The following para- 

 graph, taken from the first page of the work, will afford some addi- 

 tional explanations ; and fully can we sympathize with Mr. Webb's 

 regrets at losing any portion of the valuable aid which his coadjutor, 

 Mr. Coleman, is so very competent to give. 



" So many circumstances," writes the Rev. R. H. Webb, "unforeseen 

 and inevitable, have occurred to delay the publication of the following 

 little work on the Wild Plants of Hertfordshire, that, probably, many 

 persons who took a lively interest in its first announcement, have, ere 

 this, despaired of ever seeing it completed; — nor are the circum- 

 stances under which it at length appears very auspicious ; inasmuch 

 as I am deprived of the finishing hand of my friend and former coad- 



