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FLORA OF THE BRISTOL COAL-FIELD. 



thorn up wholesale. Without touch iug' the general 

 question, whether wo do or do not endanger the 

 continuance of rare species by our gatherino-s, I 

 would draw attention to the nature of the grounds 

 upon which these charges wore based, particularly 

 those advanced by a correspondent hailing from 

 Bath, under the initials " W. G. W.," whose grie- 

 vance referred to two plants of our' own Flora; 

 viz.. Euphorbia pilosa and Bianthus cmsius. The 

 Euphorbia was stated to have boon eradicated so 

 completely that " W. G. W." had searched for it 

 repeatedly without result ; and, in fact, was in- 

 debted for a specimen to a root heedlessly dropped 

 on the wayside by the retreating destroyer ! Our 

 accuser said likewise that JDianihu.i cmsius at 

 Cheddar was in imminent danger of extinction 

 from the same cause. 



Now this is all utter nonsense, without a morsel of 

 fact for foundation. It is a sample of baseless 

 assertion, unhappily not rare, by wliich persona 

 uninformed on the subject aro induced to pass 

 libellous judgments on the unoffending botanist. 



The actual facts concerning these two plants are as 

 follows : EuphorUa pilosa grows in an out-of-the- 

 way spot, and to my knowledge " W. G. W." is by 

 no means the only person who has looked for it in 

 vain, although I trust he may be tho only one who, 

 on that account, concluded that it had disappeared. 

 In tho summer of 1884, at the very time when the 

 extirpation was alleged to have boon complete, I 

 saw the plant flowering in plenty; and yesterday 

 (June 8th, 1887), when visiting the place, there 

 seemed to me to be a greater abundance than over 



