1862.] THE LONPON FLORA. 141 



the author had possessed a prior claim to the name of another 

 book on the same svibject, whicli was publislied a year or two 

 before that which forms the subject of this notice. 



As the name ' London Mora^ is indefinite, and might legiti- 

 mately denote that it embraced a greater or less extent than a 

 single county, or part of a county, or all the contiguous counties, 

 or part of them only, it will be necessary to define with some 

 exactness the area or boundaries by whicli this work is to be 

 limited. The proposed work will comprehend the natural phse- 

 nogamous vegetation of the four metropolitan counties, IMiddle- 

 sex, Surrey, Kent, and Essex, and in addition to these such parts 

 of the other home counties as are dovetailed with those above- 

 named, viz. parts of Sussex, Hants, Berks, Bucks, Oxon, and 

 Herts. The plants growing within forty miles of the metropolis 

 will be included in tliis work. 



It may be necessary, for scientific purposes, to regard rather 

 the physical than the time-honoured political divisions of the 

 country. In Kent and Essex the radius of the circle from Lon- 

 don as a centre will much exceed forty miles; but seventy, or 

 even eighty miles are practically nearer to town than thirty miles 

 were some few years ago. Complete lists of the plants of the 

 metropolitan counties w ill be given, and of the rest of the country 

 comprehended under the name environs of London, as full ac- 

 counts as can be furnished. 



These are the extreme limits of the country to be included in 

 the above-named work : within these bound's is the area of the 

 ' London Flora.' 



Secondly. The sources noiv available for the proposed compi- 

 lation are, first, the somewhat ancient lists of Dr. Jacob, Richard 

 Warner, and J. Blackstone : the last should have been first en- 

 tered, for he was first in the field, and he has left two works for 

 the benefit of posterity. Eor Kent there are, besides Jacob's 

 ' Plantse Favcrshamienses,' published in 1777, Mr. Cowell's 

 ' Floral Guide to East Kent,' an excellent work, and the Rev. 

 G. E. Smith's ' Botany of South Kent ' (a catalogue of rare and 

 phsenogamons plants of South Kent ); also a couple of Floras' of 

 Tunbridge Wells, a district partly in Kent and partly in Sussex, 

 the earlier by T. F. Forster, ' A Catalogue of Plants growing 

 wild near Tunbridge Wells;' and a more recent work on the 

 same subject by Mr. Jenner, published in 1846. In addition to. 



