134 contributions to the cornish flora; 



Corrections in "First Records." 



The publication in 1869 of Messrs. Trimen and Dyer's Flora 

 of Middlesex was the inauguration of a welcome departure in the 

 preparation of County Floras. For the first time, at great 

 expense of time and labour, the "first record" for each species 

 was extracted from British botanical literature, thus affording 

 students definite information about the period each plant had 

 been known in that county. Since that time this important study 

 has been carried a step further by Mr. W. A. Clarke, F.L.S., of 

 Oxford.* With astonishing patience, Mr. Clarke has endeavoured 

 to hunt down the history of the native and naturalized flowering 

 plants of Grreat Britain and Ireland, and has given us a 

 compendium of useful matter. Starting with the works of 

 William Turner, covering the thirty years from 1538, he has 

 worked through most printed botanical matter to the date of 

 publication of his own book, and has therefore been able to say 

 who first found each plant, and where, and in what book, 

 magazine, or other publication it was first mentioned. 



In collecting material for such a work, the pitfalls which 

 beset the way are so numerous that it is simply impossible to 

 establish a reputation for infallibility. Few writers, for instance, 

 would feel equal to the task of looking up all "Reports" of 

 local societies, and yet these are just the very places where prizes 

 are hidden. Mr. Clarke's book credits Cornwall with many "first 

 records" for the country. These I have carefully tested, and 

 save in four cases they are correct. The exceptions are important, 

 and in view of the high position which Mr. Clarke's book has 

 taken with botanists, and the keen interest now manifested in any 

 and everything connected with the flora of Cornwall, it will be 

 well to offer corrections. 



Ornithopus ehracteatus, Brot. Mr. Clarke's first record for 

 this little rarity is Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 

 1, vol. II, p. 349, 1839. A reference, older by twelve months, 

 will be found in a letter written by Eev. H. Penneck to Dr. 

 Barham, dated November 5th, 1838, and printed in the "Report" 

 of the Royal Institution of Cornwall for that year. 



"'First Records of British\F lowering Plants, second edition, igoo. 



