1863.] REVIEWS. 539 



Lancashire beauties will clear up the doubt about Dingley or 

 Dinkley Wood, near Eibchester, Master Gerard's ancient loca- 

 lity for Maianthtmum bifolium. 



This is a plant which can readily be found, and as readily 

 identified. The old cuts in Gerard and Parkinson will help any 

 observer to satisfy himself about the identity of the species. It 

 also, like the Lily-of- the- Valley, grows in close patches, almost ex- 

 cluding everything else. It may be looked for any time in May. 



We grieve to hear that Anemone Pulsatilla is still a deside- 

 ratum in Lancashire. Even Little Purton, its assigned locality, 

 is unknown. Still, our faith in Mr. Knowlton's accuracy and 

 knowledge is unshaken. Mr. Knowlton was a botanist as 

 well as a gardener, a man of intelligence and observation, and 

 an antiquarian to boot. His reputation alone would entitle him 

 to implicit credence about a more obscure subject than the 

 appearance of millions of Anemones near Lancaster. 



Lamium maculatum is reported from several localities, viz. 

 near Ribchester Bridge, Longridge, Bamber Bridge, Leyland 

 Road, etc., " probably introduced." Query, — by whom ? Vv^hen 

 a plant is introduced, the introducer has some object in its in- 

 troduction ; but where we have seen this plant, except in gar- 

 dens, it appears to have either introduced itself in a Paul Pry- 

 like manner, modestly hinting, by its choice of locality, that it 

 was no intruder, like Mr. Poole's once celebrated hero, but on the 

 principle of natural selection, took possession of a place suited to 

 its propensities, and where it was in little danger of being eradi- 

 cated. 



The admirers of Gerard's ' Herball,' and they are many, will 

 be gratified to learn that Mr. Ashfield has in more than one 

 example verified the accuracy of the venerable author of our 

 most popular English herbal. Lathr(Ea squamaria still grows 

 ''' neere Harwood, in Lancashire, a mile from Whanley (Wh alley), 

 in a wood called Talbot Bank.'^ The ancient name of the wood 

 is lost, but the plant is still in being, — a testimony to the fidelity 

 of one of our earliest botanists. 



Mr. George Ward, whose name appears as a voucher for se- 

 veral rare plants in this list, has been botanizing in this district 

 for upwards of forty years. His observations, reminiscences, 

 memoranda, etc., about the botany of this part of Lancashire^ 

 would be worth reading. 



