32 NOTICES GF BOOKS. 



traliaa Alps (as they are usually called), the highest ground in South 

 Australia, and which have been so liberally communicated to us, are 

 eminently illustrative of the vegetation of Tasmania. Twenty plates, 

 beautifully coloured, accompany this fasciculus. The second fasciculus 

 is in a considerable state of forwardness. 



Reichenbach, Heinkich GvsTXY.fil.: Xenia Orchidacea. Bei- 

 trao'c zur Kenntniss der Orchideen. 4to. 4 Fasciculi, with 40 

 plates, plain or partially coloured. 96 pp. Leipzig, 1854-5. 



This is a truly scientific work, and a valuable contribution to our 

 knowledge of Orchidaceous plants, which, together with the Ferns, 

 seem, just now, to be the most attractive of all plants to the horticul- 

 tural world. Here however the subjects are not, as in so many treatises 

 on this family, selected for their beauty, but for the sake of illustrating 

 the genera and species. Many, perhaps most of them, are necessarily 

 taken from dried specimens, and the drawings and analyses are exe- 

 cuted by E-eichenbach, fil., himself. These are of great value to all 

 botanists, and we cannot but thank Dr. Eeichenbach, fil., for repre- 

 senting whatever of rarity or novelty comes in his way, irrespective of 

 size or brilliancy of colour. Genera, and species too, are not want- 

 ing among them. We may especially mention Episteplilum Frede?'ici- 

 Aiigusti^ Eeich. fil., Tab. A ; Masdevallia elepJianticeps^ Reich, fil.. Tab. 

 B; Fanda ccerulea^ Griff., Tab. 5 ; Pescatorea triumpJianSy Eeich. fil., 

 Tab. 11 ; Vanda suavis^ Lindl,, Tab. 13 ; Cattleya Wageneri^ Eeich. fil.. 

 Tab. 13 J Uropodium Lindeniiy Lindl., Tab. 15 ; Miltonia anceps, Lindl., 

 Tab. 21 3 Odontoglossttm ScJdllerianiiMy Reich, fil., Tab. 22 ; JFarsze- 

 wiczella velata, Reich, fil., Tab. 23 ; Solonipodium Hartwegii, Reich, 

 fil., Tab. 27; Cattleya JFarszetcicziiy Reich, fil.. Tab. 31; Brassia 

 CHreoudiana, Reich. fiL, Tab. 32; Oncidium Krameinanitm, Reich, fil., 

 Tab. 33 (too near 0. Papilid). These are all eminently worthy of a 

 place in any Orchideous house, and some are all already in cultivation. 

 The generic and specific characters and descriptions are in Latin, the 

 observations in German. We trust nothing will hinder the continu- 

 ance of this valuable work. We were sorry to find a hiatus of eleven 

 months between the third fasciculus (Nov., 1854), and the fourth 

 fasciculus (Sept., 1855), and no more has at present reached our hands. 



