362 SKETCH OF THE 



paginse inferioris reliquarum Filicacearum praeseferente, inferiore inten- 

 sius viridi nitidiore faciem superiorem referente." 



Mr. Thwaites will, we have no doubt, make further observations on 

 the Uvi7ig plant, and will probably be able to show satisfactorily whether 

 this is, or is not, an abnormal form of Folystichum vestitum (Aspidium 

 vestitum, Sw.), a frequent inhabitant of Ceylon. 



Tab. XI. Fig. 1. Lower portion of a frond of Polypodium anomalum, 

 exhibiting the superior or anterior side, Avith its fructifications, nat. size. 

 3- Pinnule, upper side, with fructifications, magnified. 3. Pinnule, 

 showing a few sori, which have occasionally been seen on the under 

 side, magnijied, 4. Lower portion of the stipes, nat. size. 



Sketch of the Life and Writings of M. de Mautiijs, Secretary to the 

 Bavarian Academy of Science; hy Alphonse de Canbolle, 



{Translated from the ^ Bihliotheque Universelle de Geneve^ Janvier^ 1856.) 



Such periodicals as the present are open to Just censure, inasmuch 

 as they frequently give an account of trifling pamphlets and small pub- 

 lications of ephemeral interest, to the neglect of those larger works 

 which exert a prolonged influence upon science. And the cause is ob- 

 vious ; for a pamphlet is quickly analyzed, while years, often a lifetime, 

 is devoted to bringing out, in single numbers, and perhaps chiefly in 

 plates, those costly books which finally stand like statues or triumphal 

 arches, but whose progress is gradual and almost unseen. 



This is eminently the case with botanical works, when they consist 

 of long series of descriptive matter, analyses, and plates ; and especi- 

 ally if they treat of exotic productions, unknown even in our stoves. 

 The numerous and important works of M. de Martius arc a case in 

 point. I never received a number of the 'Flora of Brazil,' or the 

 * Natural History of Palms,' but I was tempted to record it in the bul- 

 letin of the ' Bibliotheque Universelle ;* and then I desisted, through 

 a reluctance to weary my readers by narrating details conceruiug un- 

 finished works, whose merits it would be very difliicult to convey in 

 words. 



The opportunity is now presented; for the illustrious author has just 

 completed his three great works, and he has marked an important epoch 



