1208 
MESSRS. J. B. LAWES, J. H. GILBERT, AND M. T. MASTERS, 
It is desirable in this place to give a complete list of the species observed, together 
with a statement of the number of plots on which their presence was ascertained, in 
whatever amount, large or small, in each of the four separation years. In some cases a 
particular species may be very largely represented on a given plot, while on another, 
although it may have been observed on the ground during the course of the season, it 
may have disappeared prior to the samples being taken, or it may have been present 
in such small proportion as not to come in appreciable quantity into the samples taken 
at one particular time. This remark applies especially to those Leguminosse and 
miscellaneous plants whose presence on particular plots is all but infinitesimal. 
Although it has been thought desirable to enumerate all the species which have, at 
any time, been noticed on the plots, yet it is to be observed that the total number of 
species occurring in such quantity as to be represented in the samples, even from plots 
where the vegetation is the most varied, does not exceed an average of 50 . 
In the complete list which here follows, Table XXXVI., the species are arranged in 
the three groups of Grasses , Leguminosce, and Miscellaneous Plants. 
tlire in Woburn Park, 880 were grasses, 30 clover and other plants, the number of separate species being 
only 12. 
Drs. Oemler and Euchs (Die Landwirth. Versuchs-Stat., Bd. xvii, 211) give the following table show¬ 
ing the number of plants growing in one square foot of meadow-land in Schleswig :— 
No. of Plants. 
Eestuca pratensis.100 
Holcus lanatus.66 
Poa pratensis.64 
Phleum pratense.59 
Avena elatior.41 
Dactylis glomerata.32 
Lolium perenne, fine.24 
Lolium perenne.22 
Alopecurus pratensis.14 
Rumex Acetosa. 4 
Ranunculus repens. 3 
Poa annua. 2 
Per square foot.431 
These figures suffice to show the great range of variation as to the number of individual plants found 
under different circumstances according to the intensity of the struggle and competition between them on 
a given area; and they bring out the fact that the number is less in proportion as the number of species 
is less. That is to say, complexity of herbage is an indication of feeble competition, and hence the greater 
number of individual plants; whilst a small number of species is most probably associated with more 
active struggle, greater luxuriance of individual plants, and therefore a smaller number in a given area. 
Darwin, in his ‘ Origin of Species,’ chapter 3, alludes to the same fact in these words: “ The struggle 
almost invariably will be most severe between the individuals of the same species, for they frequent the 
same districts, require the same food and are exposed to the same dangers.” 
