OF A LOCAL FLORA. 
103 
record was the sole ground for its inclusion in the Bristol Flora. 
However, after the construction of the Port and Pier Railway, 
when the ground at that spot was much disturbed, the Tragopogon 
again appeared, and was to be seen during several seasons, 
though I fear it will not be permitted a permanent residence. 
Undoubtedly this reappearance proves the accuracy of the old 
recorder, and the old record returns the compliment by affording 
strong evidence of the nativity of the plants recently gathered ; 
these might, in its absence, have been considered casual 
introductions, deserving no place in the Local Flora. 
It will be found that the geography of some old botanists was 
very greatly at fault. For instance, the Isle of Portland, off the 
coast of Dorset, has been said to belong to Cornwall ; and the 
town of Plymouth, in Devonshire, was also allotted to the 
adjoining county. A minor error of the same sort, was the 
assumption, that our St. Vincent’s Rocks were located on both 
sides of the Avon, and, in consequence, that both the counties 
of Somerset and Gloucester might lay claim to the rarities 
growing thereon. 
Another, but less frequent, source of diflSculty in this relation 
is, that a single station by being variously noted in different 
works, and by being copied by one author after another, may at 
last come to be considered as three or four. Anything more 
misleading than this multiplication of records, can hardly be 
conceived. 
The old recorders naturally noted the aggregates, the books 
of past generations therefore do not give assistance in working 
up the critical genera. 
The attempt to eliminate errors from old literature is scarcely 
more necessary than the cautious avoidance of those of more 
recent date. Records of localities in Guide Books, and other 
like sources of information, are to be viewed with great 
suspicion. Such records are unfortunately sometimes inserted 
