546 



[As this controversy has ceased to be instructive, and adds nothing 

 to our botanical knowledge, I hope it will now cease altogether. I 

 am very reluctant to refuse admission to any communication, or to 

 afford a contributor the opportunity of saying he has not been fully 

 and fairly heard ; but I would suggest to the parties concerned in the 

 present discussion whether anything can be gained by prolonging it. 

 — Edward Newman] . 



Notice of ' The Ancient Straits of Malvern. An Essay on the 

 Former Marine Conditions which separated England and 

 Wales, and an Account of the Probable Physical Changes by 

 which the Principality has become united to Great Britain? 

 By James Buckman, F.G.S., Professor of Geology and Botany 

 in the Royal Agricultural College, Fellow of the Botanical So- 

 ciety of Edinburgh, Honorary Local Secretary of the Botanical 

 Society of London, Honorary Member of the Cheltenham Lite- 

 rary and Philosophical Society, of the Gloucester Philosophical 

 and Literary Society, etc. London : Longman, Brown, Green, 

 and Longmans. 



The title is so explanatory that any attempt on our part to set forth 

 the author's object would be quite superfluous. With great modesty 

 he informs us that " The discovery of the Marine Plants is, perhaps, 

 the only new feature of the present paper." This we fully admit ; 

 indeed, we were almost inclined to doubt the novelty of this feature, 

 seeing that the several localities of the plants have been previously 

 recorded, although their presence has been generally attributed to 

 the escape of brine from the salt-works into the canal at Droitwich : 

 this explanation Mr. Buckman is not inclined to receive. He admits 

 that this escape of salt-water induces the conditions necessary to 

 maintain, but not to originate, a littoral flora. He observes : — 



" The distance of this canal from the usual localities of these plants, 

 and the fact that the boats from the canal do not in general venture 

 into the broad estuary, and a consideration of the accidents the few 

 seeds would be subject to that might by possibility get into a boat, 

 do not appear sufficient to account for the enormous quantity of these 

 plants, which at present occur in patches often a considerable dis- 

 tance apart, on the banks of the canal in question." 



We believe botanists will generally admit that plants will make 



