10 SPECIES BLANCOANAE 
tion through three bulky and unwieldy folio volumes without 
adding a single item to our knowledge of the Philippine flora. 
Unfortunately page references to the first and second editions 
are omitted. 
In consideration of the date at which it was printed, it is 
indeed a curious publication. The third edition follows the 
Linnean system of classification, one that had been obsolete for 
at least half a century. The only deviations from the second 
edition are the additions of a few species from the first edition, 
that Blanco himself eliminated from the second; and occasionally 
the substitution of the specific name given in the first edition 
for the one given in the second. The only praise that can be 
given in this glorified edition of Blanco’s Flora de Filipinas is 
that the Latin translations made Blanco’s descriptions more 
available to botanists generally; yet nearly forty years before, 
Walpers* had published Latin translations of about 180 of 
Blanco’s diagnoses of new species, which is the part of Blanco’s 
work of most general interest to taxonomists. 
Two editions were issued, one the “edicién de lujo,” the other 
the “edicién econémica.’”’ The cheap edition differs from the 
edition de luxe in that it is printed on less expensive paper, 
and the plates are not colored. The plates differ further from 
those of the edition de luxe in that they are numbered. The 
cheap edition was sold at 1.25 dollars per fascicle in the Phil- 
ippines, and 1.75 dollars outside of the Philippines; while the 
edition de luxe was sold at 2.25 dollars and 2.50 dollars respec- 
tively, the prices in Mexican silver. Each fascicle was adver- 
tised to consist of sixteen pages of text and six plates. The 
cheap edition was to consist of numbered volumes; but the edi- 
tion de luxe was to be numbered, and the edition limited to 
500 copies. The plan of numbering the volumes was apparently 
abandoned. 
The edition de luxe, while an expensive work, is by no means 
a rare one; but the cheap edition is exceedingly rare. I have 
seen but a single incomplete copy of the latter, consisting of a 
complete set of the text and about 140 plates. This copy is 
in the library of the Bureau of Agriculture, Manila. 
The fourth volume of the third edition of Blanco’s Flora de 
Filipinas is by far the most important part of the work. It 
consists of three separately paged parts, of which the third, 
the Novissima Appendix, is the only one of real value. - 
"Linnaea 16 (1842) Litt.-Bericht 1-68. 
