of a Local Flora. 429 



and accordingly, we always take the certificates of species being 

 " truly indigenous," " undoubtedly wild," " far from houses," and 

 so forth, with some grains of reservation or qualification. 



That all botanists will agree with our views, as to the most eli- 

 gible form for local Floras, we are not confident enough to hope, or 

 ignorant enough to expect. Those heretofore published exhibit 

 suificing proofs of striking dissimilarity between the ideas of their 

 respective authors. What appears to us to be one of the simplest 

 and best models for a local Flora, among those hitherto published, 

 occurs in a recent Natural History of Yarmouth, by the brothers Pa- 

 get. This is merely a list of species, arranged according to the na- 

 tural method, without references or descriptions ; the names being 

 made to correspond with those used in Hooker's British Flora. 

 The usual situations and comparative frequency of the species are 

 almost always intimated ; and a few localities, for the rarer kinds, 

 are particularly specified ; all such being understood to be inserted 

 on the responsibility of the authors, unless other authority is ex- 

 pressly mentioned. The whole list of the phaenogamic plants is 

 thus comprehended in about thirty octavo pages. Woodford's Ca- 

 talogue of Plants near Edinburgh is also very simple, being a list 

 of species, with one or more localities for each ; localities, verified 

 by the author, being distinguished from the others, and the names 

 being adapted to the works of Smith, Hooker, and Greville. The 

 Flora of Bath corresponds with that for Yarmouth, but the English 

 names are added, and also a very few references and descriptions, 

 where particularly necessary. The phaenogamic plants, of these 

 two latter works, are contained in about sixty small pages. The 

 Floras of Glasgow and Tunbridge Wells are catalogues of species, 

 having both the technical and English names; also the times of 

 flowering, situations, comparative frequency, and some specified 

 stations. In the former work, the duration of the species is added, 

 and in the latter, references to the figures of English Botany. In 

 these works, the phaenogamic plants fill a hundred and fifteen pages. 

 The Catalogue of Anglesea plants, in Welsh Botanology, is nearly 

 on the same plan ; but we have here the addition of the Welsh 

 names of plants, and the omission of references to figures, as well 

 as the equally unnecessary notices of the duration of the species. 

 All the preceding may be called Floral Catalogues ; and they do 

 not in any way claim to be descriptive lists. The Floras of Oxford 

 (Sibthorpe), Bedford, Cambridge, Lanark, Edinburgh, and Berwick, 

 are on a much more extended scale ; including descriptions, refe- 

 rences, synonyms, and other matters, such as we look for in the Flo- 



