QUERIES IN LOCAL TOPOGRAPHICAL BOTANY. 257 
existing conditions. I mean to say that if you were to transplant 
them they would answer there not only in gardens, but in the open 
country, where they would become wild. It seems as if this would 
be the case with many plants, and that they would naturalize 
themselves readily did not the pre-existing species of every country 
offer too great an obstacle to the spread of new ones by their 
roots, shade, and the number of their seeds stored up in the 
ground. Undoubtedly the actual separation of continents and 
absence of means of transport have often prevented species ex- 
tension ; but it is also clear that the primitive position, or at least 
ancient position of species, is a condition dominant, apart from 
existing conditions of climate and of separation or contiguity of 
continents." In the course of these remarks we find their learned 
and thoughtful author incidentally recognising a species competition 
about four years before it was brought forward in such a prominent 
manner by Darwin in connection with the natural selection theory. 
The successful action of cultivation in converting some of the 
Umbelliferce into valuable esculents makes one feel surprised that 
Bunium flexuosum, With., the Earth Nut, has not been removed into 
gardens, and improved by man. It and the extremely local Carum 
Bulbocastanum, Koch., furnish in their natural condition, by their 
large tubers, a substance more suitable for his food than that sup- 
plied by any other British species when unimproved, though among 
them are the Carrot, Parsnip, and Celery. The tubers of the 
Bunium flexuosum, locally called " Pig Nuts," are sometimes sought 
for and eaten by our country children. They cause a slight sensa- 
tion of heat in the throat when chewed, but otherwise are not un- 
palatable in the raw state, though few probably would go so far as 
Withering does, when he says they, " either raw, boiled, or roasted, 
are little inferior to chestnuts, and would be an agreeable addition 
to our winter desserts." Do any records exist of experiments on 
this plant with a view to its improvement by cultivation and arti- 
ficial selection 1 
Pimpinella magna, L., affords a remarkable instance of what 
appears arbitrary range in Devon and Cornwall, like some species 
of which I have already spoken. Around the town of Plymouth 
it is a very abundant species, so that literally cartloads might be 
collected in July and August in the parishes of Egg Buckland and 
Plympton St. Mary; but proceeding in a northerly direction it 
becomes uncommon between Tamerton Foliott and Buckland Mona- 
