BOTANICAL NEWS. 63 



Islands ; 40, mainly dwarf alpine perennials, confined to Scotland ; 

 16, mainly moisture loving, such as mossy Saxifrages, and mainly 

 also belonging to the Asturian flora of Forbes, confined to Ireland; 

 100 so universal as to tell us little as to internal distribution ; and 

 some 300 either easily overlooked, and therefore probably not truly 

 mapped, of recent and non-natural introduction, or confined to 

 single localities. The remainder may be classed with regard to 

 requisite moisture as Hygrophilous, Xerophilous, or Noterophilous, 

 the former division including most shade-loving or Nemophilous 

 plants, the Dryads of Martius, and the Xerophiles most but not all 

 Calcophiles or lime-loving plants. Typical Hygrophiles are 

 C<(ItJt<(, Cardamine pratensUj and Lychnis Flos-cuculi, mainly confined 

 to alluvial soil, and Ovum rival e; typical Nemophiles, Lychnis diurna, 

 Oxalis Acetosellu, and Asperula odorata ; typical Xerophiles, Erophila 



rmia, Campanula rotund* [folia, Daphne La ureola 9 Fagus sylratica, and 



C'arduus acaulis: typical Calcophiles, Ophrys apifera, Aquilegia, 



Lychnis vespvrtina, Speculariu, Xcottia, Pulsatilla, &c. England is 

 divisible into nine tolerably natural botanical provinces, viz., 

 1. The Thames and South-east, westward to the axial watershed 

 and that of the Axe and Otter, entirely Neozoic ; 2. East Anglia, 

 the valleys of the Blackwater, Stour, and Yare ; 3. East Fen and 

 Secondary, the valleys of the Wash and Humber; 4. The vale of 

 Severn, including that of the Bristol Avon, but not that of the 

 Wye; 5. The Peninsula of Devon and Cornwall; 6. The Welsh 

 Mountains, including the Wye, but not the Dee ; 7. The Lowlands 

 of Cheshire and Lancashire, from the Dee to the Lune inclusive; 

 8. The Lake Mountains, with the valley of the Kent ; 9. North- 

 umberland and the valley of the Tees. 



Botanical Netos- 



Prof. Bayley Balfour left London early last month for 

 Socotra with the purpose of investigating the Natural History of 

 that Island, on behalf of the Committee appointed by the British 

 Association at their meeting at Dublin in 1878, and for which a 

 grant of £130 has been made by the Association, and a further 

 grant of £175 from the Government Fund administered by the 

 Royal Society. The topography of Socotra has been well described 

 ,} y Lieut. Wellstead in the Geographical Society's Journal for 

 1835 ; but the zoology, botany, and g< ology may be said to be 

 entirely unknown. When Hildebrandt left Europe for Madagascar 

 ja the autumn of last year it was his intention to visit Socotra; 

 but though the island is seen by all who pass through the Bed Sea 

 to the East, it is extremely difficult to reach, and Hildebrnndt was 

 Compelled to pass it. Prof. Balfour carries with him strong official 



Recommendations to the Government authorities at Aden. It will 



be necessary for him to make special arrangements for proceeding 

 worn Aden to Socotra, but it is expected that he will return to 





