On the Advancement of Local Botany near London. 165 



nials or perennials, surely collecting - the portion above the earth in 

 most instances is sufficient, without rooting out the species entirely. 

 There are certain plants of which the root is necessary for distinguish- 

 ing and defining specific characters ; in such cases some attention 

 should be paid to the number of species observed in the locality ; 

 bearing in mind the necessity of leaving a sufficient number for the 

 continuance of the propagation of the species. It has been observed, 

 by some eminent botanists of the present day, that the formation of 

 the different societies for the exchange of specimens, &c. will in a 

 great measure have the effect of destroying some of our richest loca- 

 lities. Let it not be understood, that the formation of maps and plans 

 of the nature before alluded to, are for the purpose of facilitating these 

 ravages. That in the hands of the most avaricious they will do so, I 

 have not the slightest hesitation in acknowledging, but it is to be 

 hoped that not many of those individuals now exist, who would 

 thus damp the ardour and zeal of the rising generation of botanists, 

 and also be the means of retarding science, while the execution of 

 such ideas may prove beneficial to the scientific inquirer. 



The plan of Battersea Fields before alluded to, exhibited the vari- 

 ous houses, ditches, fields, and other minor but interesting stations, 

 on the scale of two feet to the mile. This plan was executed and 

 the locality surveyed by myself, in order that accuracy might be the 

 result. / afterwards learned that this labour and trouble might have 

 been spared, by inspecting the plan of the parish or parishes from 

 which the rates are made, and therefore, on a scale sufficient for the 

 present purpose ; it is, I understand, generally to be found hanging 

 up in the vestry room, or in the care of the vestry-clerk of the parish. 

 Such plans might be conveniently applied to local Floras, and would 

 be admirable desiderata to such works, numbering the species in the 

 letter-press to correspond with the numbers on the plate ; thus sup- 

 posing the cut to represent a plan of a locality, and the figures some- 

 what the situation of the plants there found. 



VOL. II. no. S. 



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