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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Out of a total of sixty-four species, there are in this list 26 
white, amounting to 40*5 per cent ; 9 green, or 14*1 per cent ; 13 
yellow, or 20 *3 per cent ; 5 red or pink, or 7'8 per cent ; and 
11 blue or violet, or 17*4 per cent. I have not been able to 
prepare a similar list of our common summer and autumn 
flowers; hut even without this there are a few points which 
strike one at once. Firstly, there is the very great prepon- 
derance of white flowers, which is certainly not the case at any 
other time of the year. Yellow is also greatly in excess as 
compared with other seasons ; and the number of red and pink 
flowers is extremely small. It is obvious that if the excluded 
natural orders named above were restored, the plants belonging 
to them having mostly inconspicuous green or brown flowers, 
while some have bright yellow anthers, the proportion of red 
and blue in particular would be greatly diminished. It will be 
observed that the common cuckoo-pint is reckoned a green 
flower, from the colour of the spathe which encloses the whole 
inflorescence. 
Before attempting to draw any conclusions from these 
figures, it may be useful to compare them with those relating 
to some other spring flora, say that of Switzerland. The diffi- 
culties in the way of any exact enumeration are here very great. 
The best materials at my hand are the two volumes already 
published of Seboth’s Alpine Plants ; but these include only 
200 species selected for a special purpose. Although not 
entirely satisfactory, such a list may yield some trustworthy 
results. I have here taken May, instead of April, as the latest 
early spring month ; and have no data from which to exclude 
any species on account of their rarity. From these volumes is 
compiled the following list of early spring-flowering Alpine 
plants : — 
