88 85. CYPERACE.li:. 



records would seem to require. This being the case, if he 

 should then simi^ly pass unnoticed the rejected and dis- 

 trusted localities, it might readily appear to his readers, 

 or to succeeding writers on the same subject, that he 

 had overlooked them, and that he had m consequence 

 described the distribution of the plant incorrectly. He 

 certainly has no wish to find errors, though it be needful 

 for him to find out what are errors, where they do 

 exist ; also to account, in some measure at least, for his 

 doubt or denial of the false facts, — if such an illogical 

 expression may be penned. Indeed, the ten per cent, of 

 false and doubtful records, by their tendency to mislead 

 and confuse, have caused the Author of the Cybele 

 Britannica more trouble and inconvenience than all the 

 other ninety per cent, of facts which appear sufficiently 

 probable and credit-worthy, to pass the critical ordeal. 

 And perhaps the great additional trouble thus unneces- 

 sarily forced on him, may have often led him to allude 

 with more asperity than courtesy, to the individual bo- 

 tanists whose carelessness or conceit has so loaded our 

 botanical literature with records that are false or decep- 

 tive, — ^whether false localities, — or false names, — or false 

 species, recorded as true and real. This work is a sort 

 of pioneer in its department, advancing before succes- 

 sors, not simply following predecessors ; and pioneers 

 have usually to remove many obstacles and clear much 

 rubbish from theii' way. 



1204. Carex dioica, Linn. 



Area [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. 

 South limit m Cornwall ? Dorset ? Sussex. 

 North limit in Shetland, Orkney, Hebrides. 



