INTRODUCTION. xl 



in South Britain become decidedly rare in North Britain ; some 

 of them even partially rare in Mid Britain ; and it is for these 

 plants that the practical difficulty most comes in the way, 

 in any endeavour to reduce the bulk of the book. 



An alternative presents itself in treating the common 

 plants, such as really do occur plentifully in most or all of the 

 counties. The required space can be lessened by shewing the 

 counties for which the compiler's notes do not supply any 

 direct personal authority, instead of the contrary course. 

 When a plant is already known to occur (say) in 90 or 100 

 counties, it will be a shorter plan to enumerate negatively the 

 other 19 or 20 counties, instead of the larger number affirma- 

 tively. Each ''common" plant thus treated will save a full 

 page of printed text. 



For two of the vice-counties, 74 Wigton and 78 Peebles, we 

 have still no records for the commonest species. For some 

 other counties the lists of ascertained " common " plants are 

 very incomplete, although not wholly blanks; in example, 

 Cardigan, Flint, West Lancashire, Stirling, etc. 



To revert to the marked catalogues and other manuscripts. 

 A list of the exact area to which they severally relate, with any 

 connected local or personal explanations, must be postponed to 

 the end of the book. At present it may suffice to observe, that 

 the areas of all of them are of course ivithin the county or vice- 

 county for which they will be cited. Some of them relate to 

 the whole county or vice-county, while others are restricted to 

 a radius of 3 to 10 miles from some town or other fixed centre. 

 All the catalogues (cat.) are referred to in connexion with the 

 names of the botanists by whom they were marked or made 

 out. Unfortunately, some of the earlier catalogues cannot be 

 used here, because they relate to areas which take in whole 

 counties now treated as two separated vice-counties ; or, because 

 they take a border town as a centre, and thus relate to portions 

 of two adjoining counties or vice-counties not discriminated in 



