18G0.] REVIEWS. 245 



A New List of the Flowering Plants and Ferns growing Wild in 

 the County of Devon ; with their Habitats and Pi'incipal Sta- 

 tions. By Thomas F. Ravenshaw, M.A., Rector of Pewsey, 

 Wilts. London : Bosworth and Harrison, 215, Regent-street, 

 1860. 



In the preface to this new Flora of Devon, the reverend author 

 states that it is now more than thirty years since Messrs. Jones 

 and Kingston published the ' Flora Devoniensis' (this work ap- 

 peared in 1829), and during this long period, nearly equal to a 

 generation of '' working men," a large number of plants have 

 (has) been added to the floral wealth of England's fairest county, 

 and they have found no permanent record in a collected form. 

 " There is," our author continues, " a very excellent Flora of 

 Sidmouth, and a very indifferent one of Totness ; the rariores of 

 Plymouth have been recorded in a local magazine, and various 

 papers on Devon plants have appeared in the ^ Phytologist.' " A 

 combination of these scattered facts, with the results of the 

 author's observations, and with the contributions of friends to the 

 undertaking, constitutes the present work. The nomenclature 

 and arrangement of Mr. Babington have been adopted; and 

 Mr. T. Moore, the celebrated pteridologist, of Chelsea, contri- 

 buted to the list of Ferns. 



The present work on the plants of Devonshire is a very wel- 

 come addition to the literature of English local botany; and 

 there is ample scope for many similar works. The metropolitan 

 counties of Middlesex, Essex, Kent, and Surrey, have as yet had 

 no botanical historian to tell the world what treasures Flora 

 discloses within their respective bounds. Many of our inland, 

 and even maritime shires, are in the same unenviable predica- 

 ment ; their floral beauties are " unsaid and unsung." Some 

 counties, like Devon, Oxford, Cambridge, etc., have two or three 

 or four Floras apiece. Some obscure towns, like Faversham, 

 Reigate, Banbury, and Woodford, possess excellent Floras. The 

 botanical public has, however, reason rather to be thankful for 

 what it has got than to grumble because it has not got more. 

 The local botanist usually gets as little praise as solid pudding 

 for his labour. 



Botanists are under heavy obligations to clergymen. Many of 



