THE FLORA OF BRISTOL 233 



tackle the more difficult problems seriously, I have treated them 

 from the lightest point of view perceptible." This characteristically 

 modest estimate of his own critical ability is by no means confirmed 

 by the results achieved ; but he does occasionally " chaff " his 

 confreres with a delicate irony which leaves no wound. 



The tract of country described is thirty-six miles long, varying 

 in breadth from six miles in its extreme north to thirty miles on 

 its southern boundary ; Bristol being as nearly as possible the 

 central point. Few districts of the same size, in Britain or else- 

 where, can be so interesting; for it combines the features of coast, 

 estuary, rivers, brooks, vale and hill, together with an unusual 

 variety of soil, such as mountain limestone, oolite, red sandstone, 

 gravel, dunes, peat, and alluvium. " Its superficies may be 

 computed, roughly, at 720 square miles, an area about equal 

 to that of an average-sized English county . . . about one-third 

 of this area lies in the Watsonian vice-county of West Gloucester, 

 the remainder in that of North Somerset." The additions and 

 corrections to Murray's excellent but rather concise Flora of 

 Somerset are numerous and very important. Practically, this 

 new work may rank as equivalent to our county floras ; and we 

 consider it, upon the whole, to be a decided advance on any of 

 them, both as regards miniUi(Z and, more particularly, in its 

 proofs of intimate personal knowledge and research. Very wisely 

 no attempt at subdivision is made ; this must, as the writer him- 

 self says, have been largely artificial, and the county boundaries 

 are sufficient. There is a good, clear map, on a scale of four miles 

 to the inch. The plates of Prunella laciniata and Stachys alpina 

 are reproduced from this Journal — the acknowledgement in one 

 case is accidentally omitted — but that which illustrates Ophrys 

 apifera var. Trollii and Koeleria vallesiana appears to be new. 



Among the more famous plant-stations are the St. Vincent's 

 Eocks, and the Leigh Woods which face them ; Cheddar Gorge 

 (remarkable for the occurrence of several northern species) ; and 

 the Glastonbury peat-moors, which, however, are partly outside the 

 district. Various introductory matters occupy 109 pages; the 

 larger half being devoted to a history of Bristol botany, as to 

 which the editor of the Journal adds a postscript. The list of 

 books and herbaria consulted is exhaustive ; and it is most 

 satisfactory to learn that various old records by T. B. Flower, 

 O. St. Brody, J. C. Collins, and others, which had been doubted, 

 are now to a large extent confirmed. 



The nomenclature is that of Babington's Manual, ed. ix. ; and 

 the plants dealt with (including varieties) amount to 1692, of 

 which 1178 species are treated as permanent constituents of the 

 local flora, 981 being regarded as native. Perhaps too many 

 aliens have been thought worthy of a number ; still the out- 

 skirts of a great town, with its neighbouring docks, favour the 

 recurrence of such intruders, so that this somewhat liberal esti- 

 mate can be defended under the circumstances. 



It may be advisable to comment in some detail on selected 

 cases; partly in order to illustrate the author's own point of view, 



