THE BOTANY OF ESSEX.
[To VIE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your excellent, though somewhat belated, notice of two of the volumes of " The Victoria History of the Counties of England " (Spectator, December 5th) your reviewer has fallen into a not unnatural error in describing Lathyrus tuberosus as "still plentiful in Essex." As in the case of Bupleurum falcatum, Mr. Shenstone's description applies only to "the [one] Essex locality." The plant is not to be found in any other county, and even in Essex it grows only in the few adjacent fields in which it was discovered in 1830. Whilst writing it may be worth noting that the name to which the English "Alferestune " was changed was " Bigods," and that Belcumber Hall is at Finchingfield, not Frenchingfield.—I am, Sir, &c., Brook Green, W. J. RIDD HAYMAN.
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