Bibliographical Notices. 47 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 

 The Grasses of Scotland. By Richard Parnell, M.D., F.R.S.E., &c. 

 Illustrated by Figures drawn and engraved by the Author. 8vo. 

 Edinburgh, 1842. 

 It is not an easy thing to determine upon the best mode of bringing 

 such a work as the present under the notice of our readers ; for if 

 we were to write a dissertation upon the modes that have been 

 adopted by different authors for the classification of Grasses, however 

 useful or amusing such a treatise might be, it could not be considered 

 as a review of Dr. Parnell's work : on the other hand, if, leaving 

 such extensive generalizations as must be inseparable from the above 

 plan, we were to confine ourselves to an examination of the details 

 of the work before us, we should produce a dry list of annotations, 

 or kind of commentary on the book, but should be far from convey- 

 ing any idea of its value to others. 



It is necessary, how r ever, that we should adopt some plan, and 

 therefore we will first state what Dr. Parnell appears to have had in 

 view, and then entering slightly into detail, endeavour to point out 

 the mode that he has followed and the extent to which we consider 

 that it has been attended with success. Our author is well known 

 to many of our readers as a successful cultivator of the science of 

 Ichthyology, and, from his being totally unknown as a botanist, we 

 must confess that the announcement of the present work rather raised 

 our curiosity than our expectations ; but having now examined very 

 many parts both of the descriptions and figures in a far more minute 

 manner than is usual, not to say with reviewers, but even with stu- 

 dents, we can confidently say that there is no part of British botany 

 so thoroughly and successfully illustrated as the Scottish (would 

 that we could say British) Grasses. 



The author's object appears rather to have been the determination 

 of species than distinction of genera, for that portion of his book 

 which is occupied with the characters of the latter is greatly circum- 

 scribed, and the distinctions between them are far from being ex- 

 plained as is expected in a monograph. On the other hand, the 

 descriptions of the species are given in fully as much detail as could 

 be desired, and are so arranged that the same portion of each refers, 

 in as nearly as possible the same words, to a similar part of the re- 

 spective plants, thus producing descriptions every clause of which is 

 admirably contrasted with the corresponding portion of the next. 

 At the end of each description the points in which the respective 

 species differ from the other plants contained in the same genus are 

 placed in so clear a light, that it is almost, if not quite, impossible 

 for the student to be at a loss in determining to which species his 

 specimens would be referred by the author. The work is illustrated 

 by sixty-six plates drawn by the author, in which are contained ac- 

 curate figures of all the species, and most of the varieties of grasses 

 that have been found in Scotland. To each of the figures is appended 

 a dissection of the spikelet, showing the form and structure of the 

 glumes and paleae, upon which many of the characters which distin- 

 guish the plants depend. 



