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 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE such as those into which the brambles have been recently divided, that persevering collecting would probably be rewarded by nearly twenty addi- tions to our list ; while it is not unlikely that an additional twenty species of plants may in the not far distant future also be added to the plants of the county. An advance in our knowledge of the distribution of plants through Great Britain was marked by Mr, Hewett Cottrell Watson in his Cybele Britannka and in his Topographical Botany^ ed. i, 1874, and ed. 2, 1883, the latter edited by Baker and Newbould.^ For the purpose of tracing plant distribution through Great Britain Mr. Watson divided the counties of Britain into 112 vice-counties, of which England had 59, Wales 12, and Scotland 41, this number being made by dividing some of the larger counties, such as York, Devon, Lancashire, Hants and Inverness into two or more vice-counties, but with the exception of Lincolnshire all the counties bordering on Northamptonshire remain undivided, while Rut- land is included by Mr. Watson with Leicestershire. If we look closely into the distribution of the British flora we shall find that no fewer than 100 species are found in every Watsonian vice-county, that two are known to occur in 1 1 1 vice-counties, and about 180 more in upwards of 100 vice-counties ; so that out of the 1,750 native British species over 300 are so widely distributed as to be found in 100 or upwards of these vice-counties of Britain. Of these almost ubiquitous species all but one have been recorded for Northamptonshire, the absentee being the marsh violet {Viola palustris). The round-leaved sundew [Drosera rotundifolia), that interesting carnivorous plant, is, it is to be feared, now extinct, although there is no doubt it formerly occurred on Dallington Heath. Of the plants which occur in no fewer than 80, or are at present recorded for not more than 100 vice-counties, several with this wide range of distribution have not been recorded for Northamptonshire. These absentees include the climbing heath fumitory {Corydalis claviculata — Capnoides claviculata, Druce), which may possibly yet be found, as it occurs locally in Bucks, Oxford, Beds, Warwick, Lincoln and Leicester ; the water avens (Geum rivale), which occurs in Beds, Cambridge, Lincoln, Leicester, Warwick and Oxford, and in the latter county very near to the Northants boundary ; the poisonous water dropwort [CEnanthe crocata), which, although found in Oxford, Bucks, Warwick and Lincoln, is absent from several of the eastern counties ; the blaeberry {Vaccinium Myrtillus), which is locally abundant in Bucks and Beds, and is found also in Leicester, Warwick, and very rarely in Oxfordshire ; the creeping for- get-me-not {Myosotis repens), found in Bucks, Lincoln, Leicester and Warwick : the shore-grass [Littorella juncea), which is found in Oxford, Bucks, Lincoln, Leicester and Warwick on the muddy margins of ponds, often completely submerged, is another plant we may hope to add to our list. The following plants are also absent from Northampton- shire : the sweet gale {Myrica Gale), recorded for Lincoln, Cambridge, Hunts, no doubt in former times occurred in our area, but with fen 1 London : Bernard Quaritch, 1 883. 48