The Manchester Flora. 



in this life; Percival, Carter, Evans,* still among us, 

 have reflected honour upon Manchester as a spontaneous 

 working men's college of natural history, such as might 

 deservedly be envied by the proudest institution in the 

 land. These men acquired their knowledge in the 

 scenes we speak of, and from nature's "common things." 

 The plants of the fields and hedgerows, the insects of 

 the moors, were their inspiration and instruction, the 

 source at the same moment of a thorough and pure 

 delight; for while they are the least expensive of 

 pleasures, the naturalist's are also the truest and most 

 abiding. No one inexperienced in botany would imagine 

 how many wild-flowers are found growing about Man- 

 chester. Taking the area which would be marked out 

 by measuring a circle round the Exchange, fifteen miles 

 from it in every direction, six hundred different species 

 were catalogued in i84o.t Buxton's" Guide," printed in 

 1849, included one hundred and fifty others, mostly 

 accidental omissions from the earlier list. Our own 

 "Manchester Flora," 1858, in which everything is brought 

 up to that time, contains over twenty more, though, in 

 consequence of the diversity of opinion as to what plants 

 should legitimately be included, the figures are probably 

 much about the same as in the "Guide," namely, seven 

 hundred and fifty. These seven hundred and fifty com- 

 prise the flowering plants, the trees, and the ferns. The 



* The two last-named now also deceased. 



fin the Flora Mancuniensis, dictated by the Natural History 

 Class of the Mechanics' Institution, then in Cooper-street. 



