182 OF THE HERBARIUM. 



4. The locality where the plant was growing when it 

 was gathered ; in other words, the name of the mountain, 

 marsh, town, village, &c, on or near which it flourished. 

 Any information of this nature is of the greatest benefit to 

 later botanists, especially in the case of rare kinds. [Great 

 Britain is so restricted in extent, and so well hunted over 

 by botanists, that it is sometimes actually necessary, if 

 a new acquisition to our Flora is to retain its place, to 

 conceal its locality from the eyes of those, who are bota- 

 nists in name, but exterminators in fact. These, however, 

 are exceptions ; and on the Continent, with its vastly larger 

 surface, and greater distances to travel over, it is of 

 benefit instead of injury, to disclose the whereabouts of 

 any given species. — Ed.] Thus Orthotrichum rogeri, Br., 

 has been gathered on the Jura Alps, but has never been 

 rediscovered, because the description ' Jura Alps ' was 

 too vague and indefinite to be of any service to future col- 

 lectors. 



To the geographical or topographical position should be 

 added a word or two, descriptive of the soil on which the 

 individuals flourished, whether dry, swampy, woody, &c. 



It is frequently also of service to indicate the geological 

 formation underlying the locality ; the influence of the 

 subsoil on the development and general character of the 

 plant being often very striking. 



5. The date on which the specimen was gathered. This, 

 too, is of importance, as marking the season of flowering, 

 fruiting, &c. 



6. The name of the collector, and, if the example has 

 passed through another hand, that of the person, from 



pteris fragilis, Bernh., enjoys at least twenty-seven different aliases. Of 

 the still more common Pteris aquilina, Linn., Sir William Hooker — 

 having first enumerated seventeen or eighteen names — writes (Spec. 

 Fil. ii. 197) : ' Other synonyms might be added, if it were worth en- 

 cumbering our pages with them. . . . Mr. Moore has twenty 

 synonyms under the European Pt. aquilina, without taking into 

 account Pt. esculenta, caudata, &c. of authors ! ' — Ed. 



