973 



Arundo is restored vice Calamagi'ostis and Phragmites ; Alsine and 

 Mcehringia degenerate into Arenaria ; and sundry species of Erucas- 

 trum, Brassica and Diplotaxis revert to venerable Sinapis. These are 

 only two or three instances taken at random to illustrate the " resto- 

 ration." In the next place it appears that after all the wise ones were 

 wrong in making species of Erythraea latifolia, pulchellaand littoralis; 

 of Carex irrigua ; of Cochlearia anglica, danica and groenlandica ; of 

 Senecio aquaticus, Habenaria chlorantha, sundry Atriplices, and a 

 host of other plants, exalted only to be abased : for all these appear 

 in the London Catalogue as varieties. Surely Carex Q^deri is a good 

 species ! Surely Prunus insititia and domestica are something more 

 than varieties of P. spinosa ! And wherein have failed Stachys ambi- 

 gua, Juncus conglomeratus and effusus, Avena alpina and planiculmis, 

 that they should have no claim to numbers ? Their claim to specific 

 distinction seems to have been transferred to Fedia eriocai*pa, Ranun- 

 culus circinatus &c., and Ajuga alpina is gone altogether. Would it 

 not have been an improvement if a few synonymes had been introdu- 

 ced ? Is Carex glauca of the list what we have latterly called C. re- 

 curva ? Is Glyceria loliacea the plant which has at different times 

 borne the generic names of Triticum and Sclerochloa ? Without a 

 good library we shall have to use plenty of guess-work in checking off 

 our possessions. In the next place I am anxious to know how long 

 a residence in this country is necessary before a plant becomes " suf- 

 ficiently naturalized"? Mimulus luteus, Eranthis hiemalis, Lilium 

 Martagon &c. are admitted, while Oxalis stricta. Erica carnea, Lina- 

 ria purpurea &c. are excluded. The distinction between the two 

 species of Impatiens is nicely discriminated; Noli-me-tangere is held 

 to be truly wild because included in three Floras, fulva is introduced 

 because not found in one of the twenty. Moreover, if the doubtfully 

 native plants are to be marked at all, why not have made the list of 

 them perfect, instead of leaving it incomplete, as avowed at p. 15 ? 

 The result is, that we are very little wiser than before, as it is impos- 

 sible to know which of the remainder " ought to have been" marked 

 by the compilers. We are told that Viola odorata, Cheiranthus Cheiri, 

 Crocus nudiflorus and the Vincas are not wild, but are professedly 

 left in the dark as to Sisymbrium Irio, Chelidonium majus, and other 

 introduced species. And when plants have been found only once or 

 twice, or the known habitat is destroyed, is that a reason why they 

 should afterwards be excluded from our lists, as is done in the Lon- 

 don Catalogue with Eriophorum alpinum, Carex Davalliana, Poten- 

 tilla alba, Bromus arvensis, &c. ? On the same principle surely Con- 



