INTKODUCTION. 



I.— TOPOGEAPHY. 



1. Position. — Middlesex, the metropolitan county of England, is situ- 

 ated in its south-east corner, and though containing the port of the 

 capital, and having a tidal river for its southern boundary, is wholly 

 inland. It is included between the parallels of 51° 22' and 51° 42' N. 

 hit., and 0° 2' E. and 0° 31' W. long. 



2. Size. — With the exception of Rutland (141 square miles), Mid- 

 dlesex is the smallest of the English counties. According to the 

 Agricultural Returns (1868, p. 16), its total area* is 180,136 statute 

 acres, or 281'46 square miles. Compared with the whole area of 

 England and Wales, it stands in the proportion of 1 : 207. 



About one-sixth of the county is occupied by the metropolis. From 

 a botanical point of view, this is equivalent to an absolute diminution 

 of area to that extent. In 1868, 108,956 statute acres were under 

 cultivation, including bare fallow and permanent pasture {Agri- 

 cultural Returns, p. 16) ; adding to this 31,524 acres occupied by the 

 metropolis {Population Returns, 1861), and subtracting the sum from 

 the whole area, the remainder, 3,656 acres, one-fiftieth of it, gives 

 the area outside the metropolitan districts which is not under culti- 

 vation. This must consequently include all portions of the surface 

 which have hitherto remained comparatively undisturbed, and have 

 consequently more or less preserved their natural vegetation. 



3. Shape. — The shape of Middlesex is a very irregular parallelogram. 

 In the north-east it is penetrated by a spur of Hertfordshire, while in 

 the south-west a large portion projects into Surrey. The greatest 

 length is from Chertsey Bridge, in the south-west, to the north-east 

 corner of the county near Waltham Abbey, Essex, 28 miles; the 

 greatest breadth from near Rickmansworth, in the north-west, to the 

 Isle of Dogs, in the south-east, 17 miles. The county corresponds 

 roughly, therefore, to a rectangle 20 miles long by 14 broad. The 



