INTRODUCTION. 
Vll 
Dr. J. W. Ellis, F.E.S., past President and Secretary. 
Mr. J. Mackarell, past Secretary. 
Mr. W. H. Holt, past President. 
Miss E. M. Wood, Botanical Referee. 
Some critical genera, such as Rubus and Rosa, &c., were 
not revised by this committee, nor was much attention paid 
to varieties or sub-species which now-a-days tend to become 
so numerous. The plan adopted was for each member in turn 
to write out a few pages of the old Flora, &c., at home. 
These were read out and amended at the next session of the 
committee. This method was continued until the book was 
written out. These rough MSS. were then left as they were, 
as there were no funds available for their publication. Eight 
years have elapsed, and as no one else appeared who would 
devote the necessary labour and capital to the production of 
the new edition, the Committee of the Liverpool Naturalists’ 
Field Club authorised the present editor to undertake the 
work at his own charges. 
As that work, which has been a labour of love, is now 
finished, it may be pointed out that this edition is not the 
mere catalogue of Plant and Locality that most local Floras 
are. The present editor has long felt that in order properly 
to study the plants of a given area, data should be given for 
considering the conditions under which they flourish. He 
therefore considers that he has been fortunate in obtaining 
the collaboration of the following, viz : — 
Mr. J. J. Fitzpatrick has written a most interesting and 
instructive chapter descriptive of the soil and rock of our 
district. 
The Rev. J. Cairns Mitchell, B.D., F.R.A.S., has, 
with much labour, supplied meteorological notes and tables 
shewing the climatic influences at work at Southport, Liver- 
pool and Chester. 
