546 



ces to dig up every specimen they can find, of certain rare plants in 

 their locality, and these are bundled off until the market is actually 

 glutted. 



Yet more startling facts 1 could adduce, but I trust that I have said 

 enough to awaken attention to the subject. What can be more pain- 

 iiil to the true and ardent lover of Botany, than to find those spots 

 where Nature has, as it were, secreted her choicest gems, visited only 

 for the purposes of plunder and filthy lucre ? I could name many 

 plants that, not long ago, were plentiful in this neighbourhood, but 

 which, since the establishment of railroads and learned Societies, have 

 become nearly extinct. The interests of science surely do not require 

 such barbarous work, and her legitimate sons, I am equally certain, 

 would not sanction it. 



I think I may venture to assert, without fear of contradiction, that 

 no small portion of the pleasure arising from botanical pursuits, con- 

 sists in the toil and enthusiasm of a botanical ramble ; and those spe- 

 cimens are most highly prized that have cost us most personal exer- 

 tion to obtain. But it is no uncommon thing, now-a-days, to see a 

 collection made up entirely of " contributions from friends ; " and by 

 the system I am complaining of, a herbarium may be made up " on 

 the shortest notice," and without costing its possessor one hour's fa- 

 tigue in the way of genuine Botany. All this may be well enough, if 

 confined to the commoner plants, but I really regret to see our darling 

 science degraded into a mere handmaid of " commerce and trade," 

 with the additional mortification of knowing that, one by one, our 

 rarest plants are disappearing fi-om their long-recorded habitats : — 

 " Oh infelix operis summa ! " 



Hoping that these remarks may be taken in good part by all the 

 real friends of Botany, 



I remain, Mr. Editor, 



Your most obedient Servant, 



S. H. Haslam. 



To the Editor of ' The Phytologist.' 



Art. CXXXII. — Observations on the publication of Local Lists of 

 Plants. By Edwin Lankester, Esq., M.D., F.L.S. & B.S.Ed, 



In prosecuting the subject of the distribution of plants, it is exceed- 

 ingly desirable that correct lists of the species that grow even in small 

 districts should be obtained. The value of lists of plants from small 



