1862.] REVIEWS. 277 



light the inadequacy of all such well-meant endeavours. Ranun- 

 culus acris and Nymphcea alba are found in all the districts ; but 

 every one knows that these two plants are not equally common : 

 for example^, R. acris grows in every meadow, but the white 

 Water-lily does not grow in every pond, nor in every deep pool 

 or stagnant river. 



Hypericum Androscemum is not half so common as H. perfora- 

 tum is ; yet both are found in all the districts. Of this the 

 author was well aware, for he states, p. 57, that H. perforatum 

 is " commonly found in all the districts ; " and also that H. An- 

 droscemum is not uncommon about Halstead, but " very sparingly 

 about Newport, etc." 



Silybum Mariamim and Lapsana communis are contrasted, 

 to prove that the utility of these tables, professing to show 

 the frequency of plants, may be over-estimated. Both the 

 above plants appear in all the districts; but L. communis is 

 "commonly distributed throughout the county, and S. Marianum 

 is so rare as to have every station where it occurs entered." 



If the reader will turn to the table on page 409, viz. the list 

 of rare plants, with the earliest and latest notices of their having 

 been seen, he will observe that Thalictr'um saxatile, which was 

 discovered in 1861, appears in both tables, viz. that on page xxviii. 

 and that on page 409 ; while all tlie modern Ranunculi are omitted 

 in the latter table, although equally rare, if absolute reliance is 

 to be placed on the first table. It is not an unreasonable assump- 

 tion that the author believed that the batrachian Ranunculi which 

 are registered as occurring in one, two, or three districts, would 

 eventually be detected in almost every ditch in the marshes of 

 Essex. 



Papaver Lecoqii has been found in only two districts ; does not 

 the author expect to find it in most cornfields where P. dubium 

 grows ? It is not entered in his table on page 409. 



The next table, see Appendix no. 2, is a list of the wild 

 plants of Essex distributed into three classes, viz. common, rather 

 local, very local ; and again into native, possibly introduced, pro- 

 bably introduced, and certainly introduced ; to which is added a 

 very large class, which has but slender claims to nativity or na- 

 turalization, though they do occasionally intrude amongst better 

 company. Some members of this disreputable class have been 

 seen only on doubtful authority, or rather it is doubtful if they 



