Bibliographical Notices. 195 



an inducement to others to add to, than as complete, is now followed 

 up by the present work, which, none the less that the author regards 

 it as not pretending " to be an exhaustive account of the botany of 

 Suffolk," is a great advance in the right direction, and shows that a 

 large amount of information has been gathered together and utilized. 



The book contains a Map of the County, introductory chapters 

 treating of the Natural Features, Geology, Climate, Rainfall, and 

 Distribution of Plants ; a plan of the Flora, Books, MSS., Herberia, 

 and Authorities ; the Flora proper, with a chapter on Palasonto- 

 logical Botany ; Tabular View of the Species of Suffolk and adjoin- 

 ing Counties ; the flora of East Anglia and Holland compared ; 

 the Progress of Botany in Suffolk ; Additions, Corrections, and 

 Indexes. 



What are the features that make the flora of an East Anglian 

 county specially interesting to the botanist ? There are two, the 

 Fens and Broads, and the remarkable district called the ' ; breck- 

 lands." We may dispose of the Broads by saying that they are 

 probably not much altered so far as plant-life goes by drainage and 

 are mostly " growing-up," that is, becoming smaller by the growth 

 of the surrounding vegetation, though they are nothing like botani- 

 calJy examined. 



With the Fens the case is very different ; in Suffolk a strip along 

 the northern part of the county and perhaps a very small portion 

 between Ely and Lakenheath is all that is in anything like a state 

 of nature, such as Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire at present is. 



The flora of the " breck-lands " is perhaps the most local and 

 specialized in Britain ; many of the species are quite confined to 

 these sandy heaths and warrens, and not only do the plants poiut to 

 a former maritime condition, but the birds and insects also, and it 

 seems probable that there are yet other species to be found in early 

 spring. 



The historical aspect of a flora is always of much interest ; we 

 cannot trace back our records more than three centuries with any 

 certainty. Mr. D. Jackson has disposed of the supposed records by 

 Scribonius Largus in Kent, and shown that they are mythical. Dr. 

 Hind says " in some pre-Reformation glass in Gislingliam Church 

 the columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) is represented ; similar flowers 

 have been recently found in the neighbouring parish of Yaxley by 

 the Rev. W. H. Sewell, who regards the painting as the record of a 

 plant grown on the spot in the fifteenth century or even earlier." 



Of course this is, as the author observes, " a somewhat doubtful 

 interpretation of an historical monument." 



This is now not capable of proof, and the first record Dr. Hind 

 has for Suffolk is the Sea-Pea (Latliyrus maritimus) by Caius(1555), 

 quoted by Martyn in his ed. of Miller's ' The Gardener's and 

 Botanist's Dictionary,' followed by those from Rev. Dr. Bullen 

 (1562), Turner (1568), and Gerarde (1597), &c. 



Taking the flora as it is written, the Map shows the county 

 divided into five botanical districts founded on the political divisions 

 for parliamentary purposes. This seems the mistake of an other- 



