Bibliographical Notices. 



421 



Musee Bat unique de M. Benjamin De lesser t. Par A. Las^gue : Paris, 



1845. 8vo. 



This highly interesting volume of nearly 600 pages is devoted to 

 the description of the herbarium and botanical library of the justly 

 celebrated Delessert, and the plan which has been adopted by its 

 author is such as to make it a most valuable addition to the library of 

 every botanist. 



The herbarium and library of M. B. Delessert vras commenced by 

 his brother, and has been so much enlarged since his death, as to 

 form one of the most extensive and valuable collections of specimens 

 and botanical works in existence, the whole of which is opened to 

 botanists with the greatest liberality. 



In the earlier part of the volume will be found a very interesting 

 chapter upon the statistics of vegetation. From this we learn that 

 in 1546 Lonicer was acquainted with only 879 plants ; in 1570 Lobel 

 knew 2191; in 1587 Dalechamp recorded 2731. The interest of 

 these numbers is however less than that of the table of increase of 

 species since the reformation of botany by Linnaeus. We copy this 

 table. 



Total. 



5,938 

 25,949 

 50,649 

 91,000 

 95,000 



It is remarkable that the single order Compositce is now known to 

 contain more species (8523, DeCand. Prod.) than the whole number 

 of plants known to Linnaeus, and also that the relative proportion of 

 that order to the whole vegetable kingdom has continued nearly un- 

 changed to the present day, it being about one-tenth of the whole. 

 Tables are then given of the increase of the number of recorded ge- 

 nera and of natural orders. Also a series of calculations of the pro- 

 bable number of species inhabiting the globe, which M. Lasegue is 

 led to estimate at from 130,000 to 150,000. 



An account is next given of the mode of preservation and arrange- 

 ment adopted in M. Delessert's herbarium, which contains about 

 86,000 species and 250,000 specimens, besides a large collection of 

 fruits. It is peculiarly rich in the authentic specimens of botanical 

 authors. 



By far the larger portion of the work is occupied by a very full ac- 

 count of the voyages and travels which have been undertaken with a 

 view to the collection of specimens of plants. This we look upon as 

 peculiarly valuable information, since much of it was formerly scat- 

 tered through very numerous works, and was indeed unattainable 

 without much labour and research. 



A short account is given of the principal herbaria of Europe. 



The account of M. Delessert's library is merely in general terms, 



