Reviews and Book Notices. 



221 



against those ecolog'ists who so often remhid us that * our 

 moors are g-rass moors.' 



The woodlands are divided in a very suggestive manner 

 into mixed deciduous woods, dry oak woods, and clough 

 vegetation, and the plants of the undergrowth compared in a 

 most interesting manner. 



The historical and biographical sketches furnish interesting 

 reading, and the early workers are given their full due. 

 Bolton deservedly occupies a high position, his ' life-work 

 . . . . stands well the test of time .... it justifies the 

 unstinted admiration of us who reap what he has sown.' 

 A curious omission occurs here. The authors state carefully 

 the place of publication of each of Bolton's works, except 

 when dealing with his ' Fungusses,' and then omit all 

 reference to the fact that the work was printed locally, at 

 any rate within two miles of the parish boundary. 



In the list of species few points call for comment. The 

 unnecessary comma after the specific name has been adopted 

 throughout. The ' common ' names are rarely so in any real 

 sense, but chiefly book names. The census number, citizenship, 

 and Watsonian type are given. We should very much like to 

 have seen this principle carried further. It is clear to all who 

 have studied plant associations, that not only have we the large 

 associations but many, often well-defined sub-associations, and 

 there was an opportunity here of carrying the problem of dis- 

 tribution a step further. We look in vain, in the body of the 

 work, for indications of the common associates of the species ; 

 perhaps this is expecting too much in the present state of 

 knowledge, but we should like to have seen a closer connection 

 between the ideas expressed in the introduction and the details 

 of distribution given of the species in the Flora. A serious 

 obstacle in the way, however, is the lack of definite terms for 

 such associations ; in this respect ecology is deplorably weak, 

 but it would be a great advance if we were able to indicate in 

 convenient terms the associations to which the several species 

 belong. The compound names in use are too cumbrous and 

 can only be provisional. 



The habitats, however, have received careful attention and 

 are often very suggestively stated. Occasionally we meet with 

 a startling statement as in the Hair-grass [D. Jiexuosa) found 

 ^chiefly on the damper moors.' Smith and Moss give it as 

 a dominant plant of the dry grass heath, and this agrees with 

 the experience of most botanists ; certainly it is ours. 



1904 July I. 



