NOTES ON THE FLORA OF FLINTSHIRE 139 



"authority," from ed. i. of that work. To quote Watson's own 

 words : •« Better is it — over and over again I would repeat, — far 

 better is it to overlook and ignore a hundred alleged facts, if only 

 five or ten of them are likely to be bad, to be false and misleading, 

 although the other ninety may perchance be sound and valuable. If 

 the vitiating grains cannot be winnowed out, must remain for a 

 time undistinguishable, let the whole be rejected. The author of a 

 local flora, the reporting secretary of a provincial society, the 

 editor of a fact-recording journal who allows his work to be 

 adulterated by the errors of incompetent contributors, is so far 

 giving the stamp of his own authority to what is worse than 

 valueless." 



In addition to the main part of the county, which I may term 

 Flintshire proper, there are two detached portions, the larger being 

 geographically in Shropshire, and the smaller situate in Denbigh- 

 shire. Although politically both are regarded as constituting part 

 of the county of Flint, I confine myself in the Flora to the natural 

 division, or Flint proper, i.e. v.-c. 51- It had been my intention 

 to give some ecological notes, together with a short physico-botanical 

 account of the county, but I defer this to some future occasion. 

 Some little investigation on the Fungi and Algae is also omitted. 



Not being resident in the county my work is necessarily con- 

 siderably handicapped, and of an intermittent nature. I would 

 take this opportunity of inviting assistance and information towards 

 a complete Flora of Flintshire, which I hope to prepare in due 

 course. Very much requires to be done before this is possible, and 

 the following list is merely preliminary. I wish to express my 

 deep indebtedness to Mr. J. A. Wheldon, F.L.S., for his kind and 

 valuable assistance, and especially in connection with Crypto - 

 gamia; to the Kev. W. Moyle Rogers for the determination of 

 several JRubi ; and to Lord Mostyn and his agent Mr. Pickering for 

 facilities for investigating Llyn Helyg. My thanks are also due to 

 Mr. J. Clubb, M.Sc, Curator of the Lord Derby Museum, Liver- 

 pool, who kindly extracted several records for me from the her- 

 barium of the late Robert Brown. Flowering plants and ferns un- 

 recorded for Flintshire in Topographical Botany (or of the afore- 

 mentioned nature) and new county records are indicated by an 

 asterisk ; those recorded in Top. Bot. but without the citation of any 

 authority have a f prefixed. There is no list of hepatics, mosses, 

 or lichens for the county, so I have not prefixed an asterisk to their 

 names. The initials \V. & D. (Wheldon and Dallman) indicate 

 that the record rests on the joint authority ; where no authority 

 follows, I alone am responsible for such record. 



Clematis Yitalba L. About the ruins of Greenfield or Maes 

 Glas Abbey, and the old mill at the back, August, 1906. — Thalictnun 

 collinum Walk. Limestone rocks near Rhydymwyn, at about 



600 ft. — * Anemone nemo rosa L. — Ranunculus Lenormandi F '. Schultz. 



Near Rhydtalog ; by the stream below Ysceifiog, W, & D. ; near 

 Rhesycae. — R. sceleratus L. Marsh below Rhuddlan Castle. — *i?. 

 Ficaria L. — R. Drouetii Godr. Mill-race, Wern Mill, near Nan- 

 nerch ; stream below Ysceifiog, W. £ D. — \Caltha palustris L. 



