Island Life; Or, The Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and FlorasWallace, Alfred Russel
Science
Island Life; Or, The Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and Floras
Wallace, Alfred Russel
Biogeography; Glacial epoch; Island ecology
79. ,, ,, ,, COMPRESSUS. England.
80. ,, margaritifer, _var._ OLIVACEUS.
81. Anodonta cygnaea, _var._ INCRASSATA. England.
82. ,, ,, ,, PALLIDA. England, Ireland.
ESTUARINE OR MARINE PULMONOTRANCHS.
83. ASSIMINEA GRAYANA. Thames Estuary.
_Peculiarities of the British Flora._--Thinking it probable that there must
also be some peculiar British plants, but not finding any enumeration of
such in the _British Floras_ of Babington, Hooker, or Bentham, I applied to
the greatest living authority on the distribution of British plants--the
late Mr. H. C. Watson, who very kindly gave me the information I required,
and I cannot do better than quote his words: "It may be stated pretty
confidently that there is no 'species' (generally accepted among botanists
as a good species) peculiar to the British Isles. True, during the past
hundred years, nominally new species have been named and described on
British specimens only, from time to time. But these have gradually come to
be identified with species described elsewhere under other names--or they
have been reduced in rank by succeeding botanists, and placed or replaced
as varieties of more widely distributed species. In his _British Rubi_
Professor Babington includes as good species, some half-dozen which he has,
apparently, not identified with any foreign species or variety. None of
these are accepted as 'true species,' nor even as 'sub-species' in the
_Students' Flora_, where the brambles are described by Baker, a botanist
well acquainted with the plants of Britain. And as all these nominal
species of Rubi are of late creation, they have truly never been subjected
to real or critical tests as 'species.'"
In my first edition I was only able to name four species, sub-species, or
varieties of flowering plants which were believed to be unknown on the
continent. But much attention has of late years been paid to the critical
examination of British plants in comparison with continental specimens, and
I am now enabled to give a much more {360} extensive list of the species or
forms which at present seem to be peculiar. For the following list I am
primarily indebted to Mr. Arthur Bennett of Croydon. Sir Joseph Hooker has
been so kind as to examine it carefully and to give me his conclusions on
the relative value of the differences of the several forms, and Mr. Baker,
of Kew, has also assisted with his extensive knowledge of British plants.
LIST OF SPECIES, SUB-SPECIES, AND VARIETIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS FOUND
IN GREAT BRITAIN OR IRELAND, BUT NOT AT PRESENT KNOWN IN CONTINENTAL
EUROPE. BY ARTHUR BENNETT, F.L.S. THE MOST DISTINCT AND BEST DETERMINED
FORMS ARE MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK.
1. *Caltha radicans (Forst.). "A much disputed species, or form of _C.
palustris_. It is a relatively rare plant." (J. D. H.) "Certainly
distinct from the Scandinavian form." (Ar. Bennett.)
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