June, 1892. 
THE BOTANY OF BIDDULPH. 
131 
the Christian era, and so slow would be this march that the 
change during the lifetime of each generation of men would 
be almost imperceptible, and by the time that the ice sheet 
completely covered the country, records of the previous state 
of things existing as at the present day, would be practically 
lost in the mist of ages. A similarly gradual process would 
be the subsequent return march of the retreating glacial 
sheet from the period of the Ice Age to the present state of 
the country. The gradual driving inwards that is now in 
progress of the population of the eastern coast of this country 
from the continued encroachment of the sea upon the coast 
cliffs must be looked upon by comparison as quite a rapid 
process. 
It may be remarked that the discovery of the Astronomical 
cause for the Ice Age shows that the old astrologers were not 
altogether wrong in attributing important influences upon 
mankind to the planets; they only made the mistake of 
looking for a direct influence upon individuals, instead of a 
wholesale influence upon large portions of the human race, 
by causing such a change of climate for a long period of 
years upon a portion of the earth as would gradually drive 
out the whole of the inhabitants, compelling them to migrate 
to a more southern and a warmer country. 
THE BOTANY OF BIDDULPH AND THE NEIGHBOUBING 
PARTS OF NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE. 
BY THE REV. W. H, PAINTER, 
AUTHOR OF A “ CONTRIBUTION TO THE FLORA OF DERBYSHIRE.” 
The Botany of this part of Staffordshire has been but 
little attended to by Botanists of former generations, owing 
to the difficulty of access to it, and there being no main road 
running through it connecting one large town with another. 
Hence, in the histories of the county, the plants growing in 
this part of Staffordshire have received but scant notice in 
the pages devoted to the Natural History of the county. 
The district mentioned in the title of this paper, in which 
I lived for nearly seven years, I have divided for botanical 
purposes into three parts, and the Roman numerals attached 
to the description of the plants show in which division they 
were found by me. When no such numerals occur, and no 
remark is made upon a ]31ant, it is to be understood that that 
plant is common in all the three districts. 
