1862.] ON A NEW PINAX OR INDEX OF BRITISH PLANTS. 243 



ON A NEW PINAX OR INDEX OF THE BEITISH PLANTS. 



To the Editor of the ' Phijtologist.' 



Sir, — I beg to submit to you, and through you to the readers 

 of your Journal, the following hints or suggestions on a new 

 catalogue of the British plants. 



It is far from my wish to disparage the useful list of our indi- 

 genous productions issued by the Botanical Society of London, 

 a publication which is deservedly esteemed, and which has been 

 eminently serviceable to the botanists of England ; nor do I mean 

 to criticize in an unfriendly spirit the Comparative List, now in 

 course of publication in your miscellany. Give me leave to suggest 

 the following query, viz. whether the following proposal is, or is 

 not, a subject worth the consideration of British botanists : i.e. the 

 compilation of a more comprehensive catalogue raisonne of our 

 native or spontaneous productions ? Without repeating the stale 

 objections urged against the present list in various quarters, and 

 especially in the old series of the ' Phytologist,^ it may be asserted, 

 that the catalogue of the London Society has not given universal 

 satisfaction ; of this fact the readers of the new series of the ' Bo- 

 tanical JournaF are aware. Several strictures on its inconsisten- 

 cies and deficiences were long ago very fairly stated, and were 

 met in a somewhat supercilious manner, and defended with more 

 petulance than judgment and good taste. 



Since the first appearance of this list, five editions have been 

 printed and circulated, and with few exceptions it is substantially 

 the same as it was originally. Some species have a double or a 

 single asterisk prefixed, to denote that they were not there for- 

 merly, and the species named Babingtoniance also grace the 

 catalogue. These are the chief alterations. The question, has 

 the knowledge of botany remained in statu quo (stationary) 

 during the last fifteen years? may be fairly asked. The catalogue 

 of British plants has made but small progress. 



The Comparative List, for which Ijotanists are greatly indebted 

 to the compiler, is not quite up to the mark, — not all that might 

 reasonably be expected in these times of progress and reforma- 

 tion ; but the defects of the Junior List are not a fit subject for 

 criticism, because it is the first attempt, and incomplete, and has 

 not received the final touch from the author. He may modify 

 the form, supply the defects and correct the errors in a more 



