772 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 



excellent example of this is afforded by the productive results of the very careful 

 investigation of the Shetland flora by the late Mr. W. H. Beeby. 



Within recent years excellent work has been done in the study of plant 

 associations, but the reports on these studies are dispersed in various journals 

 (often not botanical), and are apt to be overlooked by, or to remain unknown to, 

 many to whom they would be helpful. The same is true in large measure of the 

 very valuable reports of work done on plant-remains from peat-mosses, from 

 lake deposits, and from other recent geological formations, researches that have 

 cast such light on the past history of many species as British plants, and have 

 proved their long abode in this country. Mr. Clement Reid's ' Origin of 

 the British Flora,' though published in 1899, has already (by the work of himself 

 and others) been largely added to, and the rate of progress is likely to become still 

 more rapid. Among the fruits and seeds recorded from interglacial and even from 

 preglacial deposits are some whose presence could scarcely have been anticipated, 

 e.g. Hypecoum procumbens, in Suffolk. Some of the colonists, or aliens now 

 almost confined to ground under cultivation, have been recorded from deposits 

 that suggest an early immigration into the British Islands. While much remains 

 to be discovered, it is desirable that what is already established should find a 

 place in the manuals of British botany. 



Apart from the descriptive and topographical works and papers on our flora, 

 there is a serious lack of information gained from the study of our British plants. 

 Although a few types have received fuller study, we have little to compare with 

 the work done in other countries on the structure and histology of our plants, on 

 * the effects of environment, on their relations to other species and to animals, and 

 on other aspects of the science to which attention should be directed. On these 

 matters, as on a good many others, we gain most of what information can be had 

 not from British sources, but from the literature of other countries, though it is 

 not wise to assume that what is true elsewhere is equally true here. It is as well, 

 perhaps, that for the present such subjects should find scanty reference in the 

 manuals in ordinary use ; but, when trustworthy information has been gained 

 within the British Islands, under the conditions prevailing here, these topics 

 should certainly not be passed over in silence. Students of the British flora 

 have as yet no such works of reference as Raunkjaer's book on the Monocotyle- 

 dons of Denmark or the admirable ' Lebensgeschichte der Bliitenpflanzen Mittel- 

 europas,' at present being issued by Drs. Kirchner, Loew, and Schroter. 



In a complete survey of the British botany there must be included the succes- 

 sive floras of the earlier geological formations, though they cannot as yet be 

 brought into correlation with the recent or existing floras. In the brilliant pro- 

 gress made recently in this field of study our country and the British Association 

 are worthily represented. 



The present provision for the study of the British flora and the means that 

 should be made use of for its extension appear to be these : — 



Much excellent work has already been accomplished and put on record towards 

 the investigation of the flora, but much of that store of information is in danger 

 of being overlooked and forgotten or lost, owing to the absence of means to direct 

 attention to where it may be found. A careful revision of what has been done 

 and a systematic subject-index to its stores are urgently required. 



The systematic works treating of the flora are in great part not fully repre- 

 sentative of the knowledge already possessed, and require to be brought up to 

 date or to be replaced by others. 



Great difficulty is caused by the absence of an authoritative synonymic list 

 that would show as far as possible the equivalence of the names employed in the 

 various manuals and lists. There is much reason to wish that uniformity in the 

 use of names of species and varieties should be arrived at, and a representative 

 committee might assist to that end ; but, in the meantime, a good synonymic list 

 would be a most helpful step towards relieving a very pressing obstacle to 

 progress. 



There is need for a careful analysis of the flora with a view to determining 

 those species that owe their presence here to man's aid, intentional or uncon- 

 scious ; and the inquiry should be directed to ascertain the periods and methods 

 of introduction, any tendencies to become modified in their new homes, their 

 subsequent relations with man, and their influence on the native flora, whether 



