352 THiRSK NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. [February, 



made up of portions of the old provinces of Champagne and 

 Burgundy. The nearest frontier is sixty miles south-east of 

 Paris. In round numbers it is sixty miles from west to east, 

 fifty from north to south. Its area somewhat exceeds that of 

 North Yorkshire, but in physical character it more resembles 

 Cambridgeshire^ a region with low calcareous hills, well culti- 

 vated and plentifully watered. Its streams are the Aube and 

 the Seine, which rise respectively in the departments of the Cote 

 d'Or and Upper Marne, flow from south-east to north-west, and 

 unite at Anglure, just beyond its northern boundary. Its towns 

 are Troyes, Brienne, Arcis- and Bar-sur-Aube, and Nogent- 

 and Bar-sur-Seine. 



M. Bourguignat is already known by three conchological pub- 

 lications. The present work is an octavo of 184 pages, and con- 

 tains an account of the vascular plants of the department, from 

 Ranunculacecs to Onagracece, including not only the wild species, 

 but also those which are commonly grown in field or garden 

 cultivation. No descriptions are given, but under each indi- 

 genous or naturalized species reference is made to the original 

 authority for its nomenclature, and also to the works of Lorey 

 and Duret, Cosson and Germain, Grenier and Godron, and 

 Boreau. Under each, its local name or names and flowering 

 seasons are enumerated, and each is classified under one of the 

 six categories of rarity which the author adopts ; and then follows 

 an account of the stations which it inhabits, and an outline of 

 its distribution throughout the department. 



In his ideas relative to the matter of specific difierences, our 

 author occupies a position intermediate between the extreme 

 analysts and the extreme synthesists. Thus, whilst on the one 

 hand he adopts various species which are not generally acknow- 

 ledged as distinct in this country, — as for instance Polygala 

 depressa of Wenderoth, Viola riviniana of Heichenbach, and 

 Draba pracox of Stevenson, — on the other, he joins Erodium 

 Ch(Eropyllum and pilosum to cicutarium, and Viola agrestis and 

 segetalis to tricolor. 



The book is characterized by care in its preparation and an 

 intelligent appreciation of what geographical botany seeks from 

 one who undertakes to compile a local Flora. I have much 

 pleasure in recommending it to the favourable attention of our 

 members. 



