VI PREFACE. 



beside the Kennet, Ramsbury, Mildenhall, Rabley Copse, 

 and the River Og. A small portion of the Down Country 

 is included in this district. 



District IV., between the New Swindon and Bath Roads, 

 is peculiarly a Down Country, and, like District III., is 

 situated principally on the chalk and gravel. 



As a rule, therefore, all water plants must be looked 

 for in I. and III., wood plants in II., and Down plants in 

 IV. The Map which accompanies this book is taken, by 

 permission, from the Ordnance Survey, and has been pho- 

 tographed by Messrs. Hills and Saunders of Oxford. 



The arrangement I have followed is that of Babington, 

 in the fourth edition of his ' Manual.' I had introduced 

 into the College, at the suggestion of the late Professor 

 Henslow, Bentham's Handbook ; but though that work is 

 extremely useful for those beginning the study of Botany, 

 and has many excellent points about it, yet the whole- 

 sale manner in which Bentham has united what have 

 generally been regarded as distinct species, and at the 

 same time occasionally described them, imperfectly, under 

 the head of varieties, have induced me to adopt Babington's 

 Manual. I have, nevertheless, given references to Ben- 

 tham's book, as well as to that of Hooker and Arnott, 

 ed. 7, 1855, and, by so doing, I trust that any inconve- 

 nience resulting from the adoption of a new Text-book 

 will be avoided. 



