86. GEAISUNA. 245 



British Flora ; but if so, where are they ? Even in Ba- 

 bington's Manual, thiixl edition, the species stands -with 

 the general indication of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

 On what uncei-tain, unsifted, unsatisfactory data oiu' vague 

 ideas of the areas and general distribution of sj)ecies have 

 hitherto been allowed to dej^end ! Truly, it is full time 

 that some attemj)t should be made towards picking out 

 and discarding the copiously intermingled errors from 

 amid the vast mass of accumulated data bearing on the 

 subject of the present work. Under existmg circum- 

 stances, it seems better to pass over to the side of being 

 too sceptical, rather than to remain on that of being too 

 indolently confiding, while the true middle line remains 

 undetermined. The negative inconvenience of incom- 

 pleteness in our admitted facts, is to be preferred before 

 the positive evil of admitting errors to stand for ascer- 

 tained truth in scientific matters. 



1370. Naedus steicta, Li7in. 



Area general. 



South limit in Cornwall, Isle of Wight, Kent. 



North limit in Shetland, Orkney, Hebrides. 



Estimate of provinces 18. Estimate of comities 82. 



Latitude 50— 61. British tj-pe of distribution. 



A. A. regions. Inferagi'arian — Superarctic zones. 



Descends to the coast level, in the Peninsula. 



Ascends to 1100 yards, in East Highlands. 



Bange of mean annual temjDeratui'e 52 — 36. 



Native. Ericetal. One of the most widely distributed 

 of our native grasses, though it may be less familiar to 

 the eyes of many botanists, than are the gi'asses of the 

 meadows and pastui'es. It rises shghtly above the Cal- 



