VI PREFACE. 



acquaintance with the wild plants of Britain being 

 necessarily presumed in the reader. A second work, 

 including details of localities for the less common 

 species, has been recently published under name of 

 the " New Botanist's Guide." A third will embrace 

 the particular distribution of species, considered in- 

 dividually, and the conditions or causes on which 

 such may appear to depend. This must be founded 

 essentially on the two former, with all additions and 

 corrections that can be obtained. When a know- 

 ledge of the actual distribution of plants in Britain 

 shall be sufficiently advanced for distinguishing the 

 true from the false stations, and determining the 

 comparative limits of species, a fourth work may 

 appear, devoted to general summaries, plans, maps, 

 and enlarged tables. This explanation is given, in 

 consequence of the author feeling in some measure 

 pledged to proceed with the work or works, for which 

 he has requested and received the aid of other 

 persons. 



The title of Remarks chosen for the present 

 volume is to be taken quite literally. To fix on and 

 form the first rude line of road over a trackless waste, 

 is often a much more laborious undertaking than the 

 subsequent repair and improvement of it; and, al- 

 though such title is intended as a confession that the 

 present sketch is by no means complete, it has re- 

 quired more time and patience, particularly in con- 

 structing the tables, than will be supposed by many 

 persons who may now find a facile task in correcting 



