YouaskmetostatedefinitelysomeofthepointsonwhichImuchwishforinformation;butIreallyhardlycan，fortheyaresovague;andIratherwishtoseewhatresultswillcomeoutfromcomparisons，thanhaveasyetdefinedobjects。Ipresumethat，likeotherbotanists，youwouldgive，foryourarea，theproportion（leavingoutintroducedplants）tothewholeofthegreatleadingfamilies:thisisonepointIhadintended（and，indeed，havedoneroughly）totabulatefromyourbook，butofcourseIcouldhavedoneitonlyVERYIMPERFECTLY。Ishouldalso，ofcourse，haveascertainedtheproportion，tothewholeFlora，oftheEuropeanplants（leavingoutintroduced）ANDOFTHESEPARATEGREATFAMILIES，inordertospeculateonmeansoftransportal。Bytheway，Iventuredtosendafewdaysagoacopyofthe\"Gardeners’Chronicle\"withashortreportbymeofsometriflingexperimentswhichIhavebeentryingonthepowerofseedstowithstandseawater。Idonotknowwhetherithasstruckyou，butithasme，thatitwouldbeadvisableforbotaniststogiveinWHOLENUMBERS，aswellasinthelowestfraction，theproportionalnumbersofthefamilies，thusImakeoutfromyourManualthatoftheINDIGENOUSplantstheproportionoftheUmbelliferaeare36/1798=1/49;for，withoutoneknowstheWHOLEnumbers，onecannotjudgehowreallyclosethenumbersoftheplantsofthesamefamilyareintwodistantcountries;butverylikelyyoumaythinkthissuperfluous。Mentioningtheseproportionalnumbers，Imaygiveyouaninstanceofthesortofpoints，andhowvagueandfutiletheyoftenare，whichIATTEMPTtoworkout……;reflectingonR。Brown’sandHooker’sremark，thatnearidentityofproportionalnumbersofthegreatfamiliesintwocountries，showsprobablythattheywereoncecontinuouslyunited，I
thoughtIwouldcalculatetheproportionsof，forinstance，theINTRODUCED
CompositaeinGreatBritaintoalltheintroducedplants，andtheresultwas，10/92=1/9。2。InourABORIGINALorindigenousfloratheproportionis1/10;andinmanyothercasesIfoundanequallystrikingcorrespondence。IthentookyourManual，andworkedoutthesamequestion;
hereIfindintheCompositaeanalmostequallystrikingcorrespondence，viz。24/206=1/8intheintroducedplants，and223/1798=1/8intheindigenous;butwhenIcametotheotherfamiliesIfoundtheproportionentirelydifferent，showingthatthecoincidencesintheBritishFlorawereprobablyaccidental！
Youwill，Ipresume，givetheproportionofthespeciestothegenera，i。e。，showonanaveragehowmanyspecieseachgenuscontains;thoughI