BOTANY 



The doubtful records are : the climbing fumitory (Fumaria capreolata), 

 Prunus Cerasus, Oenantbe silaifolia (probably an error), 3 but there was a specimen 

 in the Leicester Museum under that name, A rnoseris pusilla (Pulteney, never 

 confirmed, perhaps a casual), Gentlana campesfrts, Symphytum tuberosum (an extinct 

 alien), soft shield fern (Polystichum angulare), and others, mostly aliens and 

 not reported since Coleman's time. 



BOTANICAL DIVISIONS 



The map of the county which was published with the Flora of 1886 was divided into twelve 

 botanical divisions each named after its chief town (excepting Division 2, after the largest village, there 

 being no town). These divisions were arranged partly according to the river basins ; only one fault 

 can be found with that map one which the writers of the Flora were quite aware of that small 

 portion which is drained by the Witham affluent was included with the Devon (Belvoir) division. 

 If the map which accompanies this article is no improvement in any other direction, it may be 

 claimed to be more uniform as regards those which have preceded it in this work and more strictly 

 in accordance with the drainage. It would have been far easier to have followed the 1886 map, 

 and the writer is quite conscious of certain drawbacks in the new one ; the new division 2 B is too 

 large and might have been again divided, but the desire was to reduce the number of divisions for 

 so small a county ; to divide 828 (approx.) sq. miles into twelve divisions gives an average of 

 less than 70 sq. miles for each. It would have been well if Leicestershire could have been divided 

 into six divisions of equal size, that is with about 140 sq. miles in each, with a town as near 

 the centre as possible ; this would make a good workable division. One very unsatisfactory 

 reason for dividing counties into river basins is exemplified in both the 1886 and the new maps. 

 Bardon Hill, the chief of the Charnwood hills, has to be placed in a different division from the rest of 

 the forest ; this led to some confusions in the 1886 flora : sometimes it appeared in one and some- 

 times in the other. In the new map it would have been a good thing if Division 4 could have 

 been extended westward to include all the Oolite, but even then the district would be a very small 

 one compared with 2B, which latter might be divided into a north and south division, the Queni- 

 borough Brook being the boundary. 



Leicestershire is drained by four main rivers or their tributaries ; by far the greater part 

 by the Trent and its tributaries, the remainder by the tributaries of the Ouse, Severn, and Witham. 

 The divisions of the new map are as follows : 



i A. TRENT 



This district is drained by two very small brooks and the northern half by the main river. Trias 

 marls and sandstones, Coal Measures, Dolomitic Mountain Limestone, and very small patches of Mill- 

 stone Grit are represented. The lowest ground by the Trent is about looft. and the highest in 

 the southern half about 300 ft. above the sea. Rare plants are conspicuous by their absence ; 

 two only seem to be confined to this division, Hottonla palustris and Rubus Griffithianus, also 

 one hepatic, Reboulia hemhpherica, found at Breedon in 1903. The absence of Salvia verbenaca 

 and Arabh hirsuta is remarkable. 



IB. ANKER 



The Anker district includes the Mease, a small tributary of the Trent, and the Sence, the 

 chief feeder of the Anker, which is the largest stream running into the Tame, that joins the Trent 

 less than a mile above the place where the Mease enters the main river. 



Coal Measures occur in the north about Ashby, a patch also at Heather, Trias marls and 

 sandstones elsewhere, and thin beds of Permian, which intervene between the first two. The 

 elevation varies from about 260 ft. at Sheepy to nearly 600 ft. in the north-east, rising to 912 ft. 

 at Bardon Hill, which is quite different geologically from the remainder of the area, being composed 

 of ancient rocks (ashy lava, &c.), and is of course part of Charnwood Forest ; from this the surface 

 soil is much modified by the drift, which extends in a south-westerly direction in a broad strip 

 capping all the higher ground with gravel, becoming more and more sandy towards the south. 



* It has been withdrawn, and a note, doubting all the records, is in its plare (F. L. Foord-Kelcey in litt. 

 27 May, 1907). 



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