lxxxviii 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



this manner he discovered Barharea stricta, between Sheffield and 

 Halifax. To his quick discrimination, also, the British Flora is 

 indebted, I believe, for Leersia oryzo'ides, which, first noticed by him 

 in the Henfield Levels, has since been found abundantly at other 

 places in Sussex and Hampshire. Another interesting plant, Isnardia 

 palustris, was also first noticed by him as a British native in 1827, 

 in a pool at Buxtead, Sussex. 



While thus successful and sharpsighted himself, he was, more- 

 over, equally skilful in testing the alleged discoveries of others. 

 A Westmoreland " guide," in the Lake District, had represented that 

 he had discovered, in that locality, a habitat for Cypripedium Cal- 

 ceolus ; but Mr. Borrer, doubting the correctness of the statement, 

 was at pains to visit the spot for three years successively, at the 

 time of flowering of the plant, and was at length able to expose the 

 attempted imposition. 



Zealous and able botanist as he was, Mr. Borrer published scarcely 

 anything under his own name or in a separate form. He was, 

 however, a constant contributor to science in other ways, and 

 especially in the Supplement to ' English Botany.' The Lichens 

 throughout that work were very generally described by him, as were 

 also most of the Salices, Rubi, and Roses, to which genera he had 

 paid particular attention ; and in the preface to the ' British Flora/ 

 Sir W. J. Hooker acknowledges his great obligations to Mr. Borrer, 

 more particularly for a complete revision of the genera Myosotis, 

 Rosa, and Rubus. 



The only other separate work, as it would seem, under his name, 

 and then not alone, was commenced and partially carried out by him, 

 in conjunction with Mr. Dawson Turner, in the year 1813, although 

 its publication, partly owing to the death and derangement in the 

 affairs of the publisher, was delayed till 1839. The work, modestly 

 entitled ' An Attempt at a History of the British Lichens,' was even 

 then brought out by his coadjutor, Mr. Turner, for private circula- 

 tion only, that gentleman's object being (to quote his words in an in- 

 troductory letter to Mr. Borrer), " that it may remain a monument 

 of* your industry, your ability, and your profound knowledge of the 

 family of Lichens." And the dedication, which is also addressed to 

 Mr. Borrer, commences in the following affecting terms: — 



" More than twenty-six years have now gone by, since you and I, 

 If Arm with the hopes of youth, and sanguine in its projects, wrote 

 and printed the contents of this little volume. That its progress 

 was thus interrupted, and that we stopped in the vestibule of our 



