Flora of central France. 63 



the localities which formed the domain of the Flora. For 

 this reason we have applauded as much as possible the ef- 

 forts of botanists who have given more general tables of 

 the vegetable statistics of France ; tables circumscribed 

 alone by the natural limits of the different climates of this 

 great empire. The central region participating at the same 

 time with the climate of the east, west, north, and south, 

 it was very difficult to determine its limits ; it sends 

 branches as it were into the contiguous regions, and these 

 in the same way confound themselves more or less with 

 this central region, as we may imagine from the principles 

 of physical geography ; notwithstanding we have botanists 

 as indefatigable as they are learned, who have undertaken 

 this work. 



M. A. Boreau, aided and encouraged in every possible 

 way by M. le Comte Jaubert, has occupied himself during 

 many years in the exploration of the departments which 

 constitute the central region, and in the work which we 

 announce to the learned world, he gives the result of his 

 laborious investigations. 



In a concise and elegantly written introduction, he ex- 

 poses the hydrography and geology of the central region, 

 which extends in a great part on the departments of Cher 

 la Nieve, la Saone-et-Loire, l'Allier, la Creuse, l'lndre, 

 Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, l'Yonne, and also the most western 

 portion of the Cote-d'Or. It is now well ascertained that 

 these two points of physical geography are of much im- 

 portance to botany, and that according to the abundance 

 of running water, and the different nature of the formations, 

 the vegetation assumes a different general aspect, or ex- 

 hibits remarkable peculiarity. 



We shall notice here, according to the author, the princi- 

 pal peculiarities of the vegetation of these great geological 

 divisions. The rye and some oats are the grain more 

 especially cultivated in the primitive districts, which do not 



