1858.] ADDRESS OF THE EDITOR. 307 



botanical provinces into which the British Isles have, for botani- 

 cal purposes, been divided. Its comital or county estimate is 75, 

 only seven under the very highest; yet it is to the majority of 

 botanists a rare species, invognita, or one which many never saw 

 but in the herbarium. In how many stations has it been seen 

 by veteran botanists ? — in a hundred ? — in fifty ? Probably not in 

 ten ! ! ! These are the kinds of facts which it is the object of 

 the ' Phytologist ' to record and circulate, — notices of the limits, 

 or an approximation to the limits of species, — where or at what 

 latitude certain plants^ common enough in the south or in the 

 east, for example, cease to be so any further to the north and to 

 the west, and vice versa. The same facts are required in order 

 that we may have a correct estimate of the area, or latitude and 

 longitude, of species common in the north and in the west. 

 There was a Hst of what were called Common Plants printed in 

 the ^Phytologist^ several months ago. Many exceptions were 

 made to that list, and the exceptors did good service to science. 

 One found that there were eighty-eight species in it not common, 

 because he did not observe thein in his vicinity. That was a 

 sufficient reason for his rejection of such from a list of common 

 plants. Another objected to other species on similar and equally 

 conclusive grounds. Yet will it be denied that there are common 

 plants ? There are such ; and it will be only through the united 

 efforts of all the botanists between the Land^s End and Suther- 

 land that they will be ascertained and duly made known. 



The pages of the ' Phytologist ' will always be open for the 

 reception of such facts ; and it will be through the accumulation 

 of these that the labours of the botanical geographer can be 

 brought to a satisfactory useful termination. The case of the 

 species pene defunctce, or desperate cases, is earnestly recom- 

 mended to our contributors. None of them would wantonly 

 destroy plants of which probably barely a score or so exist in the 

 kingdom : tenderness is respectfully m'ged on those vrho have the 

 happiness of meeting with a rarity. The interlopers, or fugitives, 

 or vagabonds, almost all which figure in the index expurgatorius 

 of the London Catalogue, may be treated at the will of the 

 finder. Their duration is generally limited to a season or two, if 

 scarce, and if plentiful, they cannot be harried. 



The history of Botany and its progress on the Continent will, 

 as usual, occupy a portion of our pages, whenever our friends 



