NOTICES OF BOOKS. 347 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Monogkaphie be la Pamille des Urticees ; par H. A. Weddell, 

 D.M.P., Aide de Botanique au Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. 

 Accornpagne de 20 Planches dessinees par l'Auteur. (Archives du 

 Museum, torn. ix. livr. 1-4.) 



This beautiful work, of which the first part appeared in 1856, is now 

 brought to a close ; and we have to congratulate the learned and inde- 

 fatigable author on the successful execution of a very difficult and labo- 

 rious piece of monography. It is an excellent and conscientiously 

 worked-out example of descriptive botany, which is of itself enough to 

 place Dr. Weddell high in the rank of systematic botanists, and, when 

 taken in conjunction with his other labours, and especially his magnifi- 

 cent • History of Cinchonas, 5 and ' Flora of the Higher Andes '■ (also 

 rapidly advancing), we may safely assert that there are few men of his 

 ase who have done so much and such good service to science in so 



short a period of time. 



Lfi 



thotropous-ovuled genera of the great class including Morea, Ulmacea, 

 Cannabinea, Artocarpece, and Vrtieea. It occupies nearly 600 quarto 

 pages (of large type however), treats of about 470 species, 40 genera, 

 and nearly 1500 names and synonyms! and is illustrated with 20 

 plates, well drawn by the author, and beautifully engraved, containing 



analyses of nearly 100 species. 



The preparing this work has cost its author great labour, for he has 



<? on- 



conscientiously availed himself of every opportunity of inspecting 

 ginal materials, and has studied in many important European her- 



baria, besides being himself attached to that of the Jardin des Plantes. 



The results have therefore a double interest : one purely botanical, in 

 relation to the actual extent, characters, distribution, etc. of the Order 

 described, the other as an index of the state of Descriptive Botany in 

 Europe ; and upon both of these subjects we shall offer a few remarks. 

 A good resume of the organs of the Urtieea, their mode of deve- 

 lopment, and the anatomy of their trunks, etc., prefaces the descriptive 

 part, and beautiful dissections are added of the tissues of Laportea gi- 

 gas, the giant arborescent Nettle of New South Wales. The hairs, 

 stings, and raphides are fully described, as are the cystoliths, as the 



