282 NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 



Taking this into consideration, the actual number of plants 

 common to the Plymouth and British list is 875. Three firmly- 

 established introductions, Geranium striatum, Petasites fragrans, 

 and Linaria supina, appear in the Flora with full particulars; 

 but as they are among the " Excluded Species" of the 'London 

 Catalogue ' they are not numbered, and of course do not enter 

 into this summary. For a like reason Valerianella eriocarpa is 

 excluded. in the calculations, though admitted into the work in the 

 same way as the three others. Of the 877 Plymouth species the 

 five following are probably extinct, as they have not been seen for 

 many years past : — Nasturtium palustre, Yicia bithynica, Comarum 

 palustre, Veronica Anagallis^ and Euphorbia platyphylla* The 877 

 species are divided as follows, with reference strictly to the area : 



Natives - - - - 728 

 Denizens - - - - 48 

 Colonists - - - . 48 



Aliens 37 



Casuals - - - - 16 



877 



"As regards relative frequency they stand as follows, but of 

 course there are some species which might be placed almost 

 indifferently in one or the other of the lists : — 



Very common - - 248 



Common - - - - 159 



Rather common - - 114 



Locally common - 41 



Bather rare - - - 59 



Rare 98 



Very rare - - - - 153 

 Probably extinct - 5 



877 



11 They come thus under Watson's 'Types of Distribution' : 



British - - - - 484 



English - - - - 220 



Intermediate - - - 3 



Scottish - - - - 5 



Germanic - - - - 16 

 Atlantic - - - - 36 



764 



" The 113 remaining plants are segregates, introductions, &c, 

 not classified by Watson." 



A sketch of the progress of botanical investigation relating to 

 Plymouth (the first notice of a Plymouth plant being found in 

 Johnson's edition of ' Gerard's Herball,' published in 1633) and a 

 list of the books quoted follow ; and then we come to the Flora 

 proper. In general style of printing and "get-up" the book 

 reminds us of the 'Flora of Middlesex/ possessing all the excel- 

 lencies which marked that great advance upon all previous local 

 floras, and adding to them others which we do not find in any 

 similar work. Such small details as the local names, where these 

 exist, and the times of flowering are attended to with a care which 

 makes one feel secure that the "weightier matters" have received 

 equal attention. 



If we want to find a good illustration of Mr. Briggs's minute 

 examination and critical acumen, we shall discover it in his 

 treatment of the Koses and Eubi. In no local flora hitherto 

 published shall we find anything even approaching the completeness 

 with which Mr. Briggs has investigated the bewildering forms of 

 these troublesome genera. He has evidently taken great care in 



