NOTICES OF BOOKS. 217 



" From the plants of Jlurope M. de Candolle passes to the considera- 

 tion of those of other countries, endeavouring to fix the shadows which 

 indicate their having had an early historJ^ The absence of peculiar 

 species in the Plains of India he rightly assigns to their recent eleva- 

 tion. The vegetation of the Himalaya, he says, is less varied than 

 that of the Alps or Pyrenees, a statement we exceedingly doubt, as 

 also that Madagascar has more species in common with India and 

 Ceylon than with South-eastern Africa.* 



In treating of the probable Origin of some of the Genera and Natural 

 Orders of existing plants, M. de Candolle speculates upon the signifi- 

 cance of such facts, as that the remains of species oiJuglans, Acer, and 

 Magnolia, found in the European Miocene beds, remind us of the United 

 States Flora, and that the numerous TroteacecB, LaurinetB, Leguminom, 

 and Palms of the European Eocene age, recall the vegetation of Aus- 

 tralia and the Sunda Islands.f In connection with these and other 

 facts in distribution, demanding a calm survey of such intangible hy- 

 potheses as the relative antiquity of different Orders of plants, and of 

 plants and islands, and even of oceans and continents, there is a great 

 deal of excellent matter, interspersed with ingenious observations, for 

 which we must refer to the work itself. 



Book IV. General Conclusions. 



This book (consisting of only two pages), as containing a summary 

 of M. de CandoUe's conclusions, we shall translate entire:— 



" The plants now inhabiting the globe have survived many changes, 

 geological, geographical, and, latterly, historical. The history of their 

 distribution is hence intimately connected with that of the whole vege- 

 table kingdom. 



" To explain existing facts, it is fortunately unnecessary to adopt 

 any conclusion upon the most obscure hypotheses of Cosmogony and 



* M. de CandoUe says, -qu'avec les parties orientales de la Colonie du C^^^^^^^^^ 

 but we suppose he includes Natal in this definition, and the coasts of Africa opposite 



*%^^?Srbe noticed here that the assumed evidence of a ^^^l^/^^, ^f^^^^^^^^ 

 European Miocene and Antipodean vegetation is not satisfactory. In tbe ^^^^^ F^^.^' • 

 many systematic botanists hesitate to accept the evidence pnt ^''^%\^^^;^ ^^^ 



Proteac 



pical 



em hemisphere/and many spcies' aie found even in Tapan whilst the ^''^'^l^^lj 

 and Pnln,f«r« nnf ♦vr.Vnl nf .mv mrticukr ttoDical Mora. and arc frequent in several 



temperate ones. 



VOL. VIII. 



% F 



