Bibliographical Notices. 57 



and structure of coal itself, and also to the inquiries respecting the 

 physical geography of the old carboniferous area, as treated of by 

 Murchison, Elie de Beaumont, and more recently by Mr. Godwin- 

 Austen, the observations of the latter bearing more immediately on 

 the geological structure of the ground beneath London, in relation to 

 the probable occurrence of some portions of the upper palaeozoic 

 series at less depths than is generally supposed. 



The eighth lecture, in two parts, treats of the Devonian, Silurian, 

 and Cambrian strata, as well as the nature of volcanic action and 

 metamorphism, &c. In this part are some useful tables illustrative 

 of the successive changes in the organic kingdom, the chronological 

 appearance of certain classes and orders of animals, and of the rocks 

 composed wholly or partly of animal remains. Much new and in- 

 teresting matter is introduced in this chapter, and the researches of 

 Sir R. I. Murchison and his early coadjutor, Prof. Sedgwick, fairly 

 and fully acknowledged. The second edition of 'Siluria' of the 

 former author is looked for with much interest ; even in these 

 volumes the editor has been kindly allowed to use some of the im- 

 portant facts and corrected classifications contained in that forth- 

 coming work. 



In conclusion, this edition of the ' Wonders of Geology ' may be 

 recommended as a useful manual to the student and general reader. 

 We could have wished that some of the lignographs (41, 42) had 

 been replaced, and, further, that the mantle of the late author had 

 not fallen so heavily on the present editor, in his not curtailing the 

 too frequent complimentary expressions to scientific friends. Science 

 should be revered for its own sake ; it has a reward, and the truth- 

 loving spirit alone should be the stimulus in our finite attempts to 

 vestigate the past wonders of Creative Wisdom. 



Flore de V Ouest de la France. By J. Lloyd. 12mo. Nantes, 1854. 



This book, of fully 770 pages, includes the plants of Bretagne and 

 the coasts of the Bay of Biscay to the north of the Gironde. It has 

 much interest to British botanists, owing to the great similarity of 

 the Bretagne plants to those of our south-western counties. The 

 author possesses much skill in detecting the distinctive points of 

 plants, and has usually so marked them by typographical arrange- 

 ments as to render their separation from the long descriptions tole- 

 rably easy. 



This book is very valuable and well deserving of attention. Its 

 author is better acquainted with the doings of the botanists of other 

 countries than is usual with those of France. 



Flore du Centre de la France et du Bassin de la Loire. Third 

 Edition. By A. Boreau. 8vo. Paris, 1857. 



The fact of this work having arrived at a third edition would have 

 been a sufficient reason for considering it as deserving of attention, 

 and an examination of its contents shows that it cannot be safely 



