1863.] REVIEWS. 597 



The Flora of the West Riding. The Phcenogams by L. C. Miall. 

 The Cryptogams h J B. Carrington^ M.D.Ed.j F.L.S. Lon- 

 don: "William Pamplin. 



To those botanists who visit the West Eiding or the Craven 

 district of Yorkshire, this well-compiled list of its vegetable pro- 

 ductions will be a most acceptable and useful pocket-companion. 

 It will inform them where the rare plants grow, and it will sup- 

 ply them with the address of the local botanists whose help will 

 be required to point out to the passing stranger the exact locali- 

 ties where the rare species are to be found. 



There are few indeed of the fraternity who have not heard 'or 

 read about the botanical celebrity of Settle, Ingleton, Ingle- 

 borough, Penyghent, Giggleswick, with its productive scars, its 

 ebbing and flowing well, its hanging woods and lovely situation ! 

 Who has not heard of Gordale, Malham (with its Cove and its 

 tarn) ? Wharfedale and Bolton Abbey, Thorpe Arch, etc., are 

 familiar as household words among the botanists of England. 

 This Flora will be a great acquisition to all who either have seen 

 or who desire to see these lovely scenes, called, by some who 

 have seen Continental scenery, the Switzerland of England. 



In a modest and sensible introduction, our author instructs his 

 readers how they may overcome the difficulty of classification ; 

 and, in truth, he has " hit the nail on the head.^' System is of 

 no use till the tyro has got some considerable number of things 

 to arrange. A multitude of objects huddled together at hap- 

 hazard is like a lumber-room, or a heap of books of which the 

 owner cannot avail himself, because he cannot lay his hands on 

 the particular volume which would help him. But system is of 

 no use, and cannot be understood, until it becomes a necessity, 

 a something which is indispensable to the student. Let the 

 author explain his views in his own way, which he does very 

 briefly and clearly. 



" The difficulty of scientific classification, and the unreasonable objec- 

 tions so often naade to it by the ignorant, take their origin simply in non- 

 acquaintance with the objects to be classified. No man of regular habits 

 finds much difficulty in classifying his books or his papers, or even his 

 thoughts. He finds classification in these matters essential to the proper 

 management of his concerns, knowing well that without it he could neither 

 remember where his property was disposed nor combine his acquirements 



