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NEW rUBLICATlONS. 363
tliis Journal. I should nevei' have thought of publishing my maiden essay on
" Caoutchouc," unless he had encoiu-aged me to do so ; whilst the kindly recog-
nition with which it was received, decided me, in a great measure, in continuing
to work up kindred subjects. In thus expressing myself, I know well that I do
but echo the sentiments of many others who won their first spurs in the fair
field opened to tliem in the pages of this Journal.
11, Ar.hur Street, Deptjord, S.E. James Collins.
November, 1869.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Flora of Middlesex : a Topographical and Historical Account of the
Plants found in the County, tcith Sketches of its Physical Geography
and Climate, and of the Progress of Middlesex Botany during the
last Three Centuries. By H. Trimen, M.B., F.L.S., and W. T.
Dyer, M.A. Loudon :
With a map.
Hardwicke, 1869. 8vo, pp. xli. and 428.
For a botanist who asks for variety of situation, or estimates the
interest of his area of study by tlie abundance and number of rare
plants which it furnishes, Middlesex does not by any means offer a
promising field of research. As a botanical county, it is much inferior
to Surrey or Kent. With the exception of Kutlandshire, it is the
smallest county in England. Its total area is under three hundred
square miles, of which at least a sixth is taken up by the houses and
roads of London. In the remainder there is very little to diversify
the character of tlie stirface, for although, as we pass in a north-
western direction the population becomes scanty many miles before
the county limit is reached, there are no hills of any importance, and
very little heath or woodland remains, and even in its original condi-
tion, the soil must have been very uniform in character. But, on
other groimds, its botany possesses a special interest. A large pro-
portion of the earlier investigators of English plants lived in London
in the days when it was difficidt and expensive to make distant jour-
neys for collecting, so that many of the specimens which were used as
the foundation for the figures and descriptions of the older books were
gathered within its boundaries ; and for no other tract in England
have we such a multifarious collection of stations placed on record in
print, or preserved in the older herbaria at the British Museum and
in other places.