AN ADDRESS BY THE EDITORS. 201 
zontal, between which a given species may be expected. We hope 
the difficulty of uniting both the centres with the ewtremities will 
not be insurmountable, but for the present we cannot thread our 
way out of the labyrinth, as it appears to us. But as we live to 
learn, as well as to teach, it is to be hoped that our kind friends, 
who know more of this matter than we do, will lend their aid to 
remove the obstructing media which hinder our seeing so clearly 
as they do. 
In one of our recent numbers (we believe in that for Novem- 
ber) we have made a more serious faux pas. This was anything 
but intentional on our part; and where no offence is intended, 
real offence is not given. Our primary object in making the 
remark which gave pain to the sensibilities of one of our most 
esteemed collaborateurs in the cause of science, arose entirely from 
a misapprehension of the object of his paper on the one hand, and, 
on the other, a desire to justify both Mr. Babington and his cor- 
respondent from what we deemed a harsh and unnecessary imputa- 
tion. The author of the ‘ Manual,’ we are satisfied, does not believe 
that he has exhausted the subject even on so limited an area as 
Great Britain and Ireland ; and when we noticed in the ‘Annals’ a 
list of plants which were not in the ‘ Manual,’ we concluded that it 
was intended to convey a reflection or a reproach on Mr. Babing- 
ton, because either he or his correspondent had failed to see what 
a pair of sharper eyes had observed. We ought, we confess, to 
have discerned that this communication of recently-discovered 
plants was made in a spirit friendly to Mr. Babington; but this 
we did not see till it was too late; and all that we can say is, that 
we regret having pronounced so hasty a judgment, and offer to 
the contributors of additional Irish species, the amende honorable 
—the only reparation in our power. Another cause of our offend- 
ing must be imputed to sheer ignorance. We were not so well 
read in the ‘ Manual’ as it appears we ought to have been ; and, 
above all, we had forgotten its learned author’s hieroglyphics, or 
enigmatical system of abbreviations. This, we hope, is only a 
-venial fault, or perhaps only a blemish not deserving of much 
censure. “ Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum”’—he is a 
happy man who learns caution by his neighbour’s mishaps. A 
Wise man will receive instruction from his own failures. 
We have, during the very short period of our editorial respon® 
sibilities, received a request that we would devote half a page to 
N. 8. VOL. I. 2D 
