04 NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



fifth volume, and may therefore be looked upon as permanently esta- 

 blished, and as having taken a lasting place among the great scientific 

 periodicals of the day. 



Lehmann, Christian us ; Revisio Potentillarum Iconibus Bias- 

 trata. (From the Supplement of the twenty-third volume of the 

 Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur.) 4to, with Sixty-four Plates. 1856. 



This is a very acceptable work to the practical botanist, for the genus 

 is one which, like Hieracium, or its much nearer allies, Rubus and Rosa, 

 is attended with great difficulty in determining the limits of the spe- 

 cies : " in genere tarn difficili limites inter species segerrime statuun- 

 tur." Dr. Lehmann however does not enter upon a field that is new 

 to him. He is a veteran in the study of the Potentillce, and no man 

 has worked more zealously upon any genus of plants than our friend 

 has upon this. Besides elaborating the rich collection of species for 

 Hooker's * Flora Boreali- Americana, 5 we have from his pen the c Mono- 

 graphia Generis Potentillarum, 5 published in 1820, with twenty plates, 



■ 



and a supplemental fasciculus in 1835, with ten plates. Since that 

 period the labours of botanists have brought to light several new spe- 

 cies ; and the whole are here incorporated in one wtff k, with no less than 

 sixty-four beautiful additional plates, with, not unfrequently, two spe- 

 cies represented on one plate. The greatest pains seem to be taken in 

 the arrangement, in the drawing up of the specific distinctions, and in 

 the very copious synonymy. Observations are given where necessary, 

 and references to the author's more full descriptions in his previous 

 publications. In so very difficult a genus we cannot be too thankful 

 to Dr. Lehmann for giving us so many figures as he has done. Other 

 works, especially local floras, and even garden-books, have not been 

 backward in publishing figures of Potmtillce ; but it is chiefly owing to 

 the very numerous, and we think we may say very accurate ones, of 

 this author, that out of 201 species here given, only 21 remain unre- 

 presented by a figure. 



At the close of the volume are five large, folded, elaborate Tables, 

 explaining at a glance the geographical distribution of the several spe- 

 cies. From these it appears that PotentUla reptans and P. amerina 

 arc the most widely dispersed, and the latter and the i\ Norvegtca (both 

 unquestionably wild), are the only ones found in Australia. 



