Bibliographical Notice. 63 
doubtless many species, hitherto reckoned native, which a stricter 
and more philosophical inquiry may perchance reduce even below 
the rank of “ denizens,’—that being the term used by Mr. Watson 
for cases of uncertainty. We may instance some of the “ colonists,” 
and wayside plants, such as Lepidium Smithii. 
Alphonse DeCandolle is largely quoted, and his views are con- 
trasted with Mr. Watson’s own, in a complete list of the species 
which are distrusted in Britain, with the terms applied to them 
in the ‘Cybele’ and the ‘Géographie Botanique.’ It would appear 
that the Continental botanist is somewhat more inclined than our 
author to give any doubtful case in favour of the suspected plant, 
since, out of the whole 324, the ‘Cybele’ allows only 30 to be pos- 
sibly native, whereas the ‘Géographie’ gives its verdict in favour 
of 48. 
It is to be remembered that Mr. Watson lays more stress upon the 
right of private judgment, 7. e. upon the nature of the station where 
the plant is found growing, than upon geographical considerations. 
Contrary to DeCandolle, he places actual conditions of growth first, 
Tange second and supplementary. The faculty of weighing evidence 
is one most essential to the botanical geographer (p. 84) ; but it is 
well remarked that this cannot be properly used when weighing book 
against book only—often good against bad authority. Mr. Watson 
justly observes that we should look to the competent local botanist 
for the particulars of the nature of the locality, and too much care 
cannot be exercised in this kind of observations. It should also be 
remembered that the general “area”’ of a species is always somewhat 
vaguely known: hence the danger of trusting to general works too 
implicitly. A disputed point might more safely be referred to the 
testimony of local floras. 
Sufficient attention has hardly yet been paid in England to a 
strict and exact definition of the kind of localities affected by the 
different plants (p. 94) ; yet this is a point of the utmost importance 
towards distinguishing between natives and introduced plants. 
The opinions of different British botanists are contrasted by a 
comparison between Watson, Babington, and Henslow, for Great 
Britain ; and between Henslow, Baker, and Gordon, for their respec- 
tive districts of Cambridge, York, and Moray. These tables (p. 110) 
possess unusual interest ; and we trust they will be carefully studied 
by those who are engaged upon any local flora. 
Chapter IV. is devoted to a general account of the physical geo- 
graphy and climate of Great Britain ; but, though indispensable to 
the right understanding of the future chapters, we do not think any 
portion of it will require quotation: it must be read as a whole. 
With Chapter V. begins the first table of distribution, of which we 
reproduce a line, to show how much is here condensed :— 
Anemone Long. Lat. Alt. Zones. Cou. Type. 
nemorosa LW.é.. 8.0. ¢.a.U.-, lgee, 430. 85... B, 
which will be easily read as ‘‘ Found in Ireland, in the west and east ; 
in the southern, midland, and northern districts of Great Britain ; at 
