285 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BRITISH FERNS, &c. 
The limits of this volume neither allow of a very 
complete nor very detailed record of the situations in which 
the plants we have been describing have been found ; nor 
is it necessary that their habitats should be fully and 
minutely stated. The facts selected for record will, how¬ 
ever, be so arranged as to afford some insight into the 
geographical range of the species in the British Isles. 
Mr. Watson, who is our best authority on the question 
of the distribution of plants in the United Kingdom, has 
well remarked that the county divisions are too numerous, 
and the ancient political divisions too few, to express, with 
both completeness and precision, the actual distribution of 
species—the first, because our information is imperfect, the 
second, because the areas are too extensive. He has, 
therefore, proposed another set of divisions, which he calls 
provinces. These provinces are thus formed.- From the south 
coast of England to the Highlands of Scotland, a medial line 
