1264 MESSRS. J. B. LA WES, J. H. GILBERT, AND M. T. MASTERS, 
cussing the constituents of the miscellaneous herbage in this place, the plan followed, 
is, to mention first those which have been respectively first, second or third in order of 
predominance among their associates, or those which have contributed not less than 
5 per cent, of the total produce. Other plants which are not so well represented, either 
in relative predominance or in percentage, and concerning which it is not necessary to 
speak at so much length, are treated of subsequently; while those Orders in which 
none of the members are represented in the degree above-mentioned are briefly alluded 
to at the end of the section. 
Ranunculace^e, 
The species of this Order found on the plots are few in number. Three of them, 
R. acris, R. bulbosus, and R. repens, are met with in greater or less abundance on all 
the plots. R. Ficarici occurs on 11, but it does not figure in the samples taken in 
the separation-years ; R. auricomus, also, has only been found on two plots, and in only 
one sample (that from plot 16 in 1877), although it is not uncommon in the adjacent 
woods and shrubberies. 
Ranunculus bulbosus and R. repens. 
It is unfortunate that, owing to the difficulty of determining to which of these two 
species fragments of leaves and stems such as occur in the samples belong, the two 
plants are taken together in the tables showing the percentage and the weight of the 
several constituents of the herbage. This is the more to be regretted as the habit of 
the two species is so different. 
R. bulbosus is an erect perennial, with a somewhat globose root-stock, destitute of 
runners, but reproduced by the formation of a new bulb-like bud at the top of the 
old one. The root-fibres are thick, whitish, unbranched, and descend vertically. The 
hairs on the stem and foliage are usually longer and coarser than in R. repens. It 
flowers and produces seed abundantly. 
R. repens has, as the name implies, creeping, prostrate stems, which give off runners 
or creeping shoots, which root at the nodes, where they form fresh plants, and thus 
enable the plant to reproduce itself freely without seeding, which rather rarely happens. 
The roots are similar to those of R. bulbosus , but more slender. 
The following table illustrates the predominance of the two species collectively. 
