917 



my friend's as to the truth of the statement, and yet I know not why 

 the discovery of the Cypripedium in Hants or any other southern 

 county should be deemed improbable, beyond the fact that it has 

 hitherto occurred only in the north of England. But the species is 

 not essentially a northern one, being sparingly distributed over the 

 greater part of central Europe, in the north of France, Belgium and 

 Germany, chiefly in hilly situations and on calcareous rocks, condi- 

 tions abundantly fulfilled in this part of the kingdom. The discovery 

 of such plants as Habenaria albida, Listera cordata and Campanula 

 latifolia in the south of England, all of which we have accustomed 

 ourselves to look upon as appertaining to the north of our island 

 alone, should encourage us to hope that many of the plants of York- 

 shire, and even of Durham and Northumberland, may eventually be 

 detected in these southerly parts; of course in diminished frequency 

 and abundance. I have before remarked (Phytol. ii. 1000) that Ses- 

 leria cserulea, banished in Britain to the limestone hills of Yorkshire, 

 is found on dry chalk banks at Rouen, and may therefore be reason- 

 ably looked for on those of Hants and other counties where the 

 cretaceous system prevails. I may cite Saxifraga Hirculus and 

 Scheuchzeria palustris amongst species whose equatorial limits in 

 Britain late researches have shown to be less contracted than for a 

 long time they appeared to be : so in like manner we may predicate 

 of many other northern plants a more extended range southward, in 

 accordance with the botanical axiom alluded to in speaking of Epi- 

 lobium angustifolium, at p. 365 of the present volume, that the equa- 

 torial boundary of plants is less exactly defined than their polar 

 limits. 



Wm. A. Bromfield. 

 Eastmount, Hyde, Isle of Wight. 



(To be continued.) 



to the Hampshire Flora that have been communicated to me from time to time by 

 correspondents, known or unknown, the Dog's-tooth Violet (Erithronium Dens-canis) 

 I have been assured grows in certain of our woods, but where, I have at this moment 

 forgotten, and am content to remain in ignorance of the station, until conducted 

 thither and shown the plant in situ. 



