1906. LkT'i". — Numbers for Names of Counties. 225 
the while in both Topographical Botanies, the county 
boundaries, as the public know them, are strictly adhered to. 
Nothing has been gained by this substitution of numbers for 
the names of counties. The authors of the plans could not do 
without giving each county's name after the number, each 
time they used one of the numbers. And we must always bear 
in mind that the assignation of the numbers is a purely 
arbitrary experiment. And if the numbers are so all-important 
and necessary, and so free from any chance of confusion or 
mistake arising, there would be no occasion to repeat on every 
page, again and again, the names of the counties signified by 
the numbers. 
In the communications on the Irish portion of this subject 
that have appeared in the Joicrn, of Botany and Irish Naturalist^ 
the only reason given for the use of the numbers resolves 
itself into this—" H. C. Watson did it for Great Britain and I 
have done it for Ireland," But the proceeding is like many 
another experiment that has been tried on Ireland- Now, if 
somebody had the courage to put his pen through every one 
of those iterated columns of numbers in Watson, he would" be 
a benefactor to every student who is interested in the botany 
of these islands. I might suggest that the presence of such 
an overwhelming array of numbers should be recognised in 
the titles of the works, and that they should be called 
Numerical Botany^ 
' It is more than a pity to risk the grand old names of the 
counties around which are clustered so many histories and 
memories, and to label them off with numbers as if they were 
porters, or policemen, or convicts who are known only by a 
number. 
It takes away the interest that is more or less attached to all 
and each of the county names, and the next step in this drying- 
up system may very well be the substitution of the numbers 
set down to the plant names as found in the L<ondon Catalogue 
of plants, in place of the I^atin names of genera and species — 
such might be the perfection of mathematical or arithmetical 
exactness in botany. But would it assist students, or attract 
recruits to any department of botany ? 
I have been told that " a great practical difficulty " exists in 
botanical works for want of these numbers instead of the 
