Literary' Notices. 527 



quote the conclusions which Professor Lindley has drawn 

 from the results.] 



" This experiment appears to me to lead to most important 

 conclusions. These things seem clear : — Firstly, that dicotyle- 

 donous plants, in general, are unable to remain for two years 

 in water without being totally decomposed ; and that the 

 principal part of those which do possess the power are Coni- 

 ferse and Cycadeae, which are exactly what we find in a fossil 

 state. Secondly, that monocotyledones are more capable of 

 resisting the action of water, in particular, palms and scita- 

 mineous plants, which are what we principally find as fossils; 

 but that grasses and sedges perish : so that we have no right 

 to say that the earth was not originally clothed with grasses, 

 because we no longer find their remains. Thirdly, that fungi, 

 mosses, and all the lowest forms of vegetation disappear, and 

 that even Equisetum leaves no trace behind ; which seems to 

 settle the question of Calamites being an extinct form of that 

 genus : and, finally, that ferns have a great power of resisting 

 water, if gathered in a green state, not one of them having 

 disappeared during the experiment; but that the effect of im- 

 mersion in water is to cause their fructification to rot away. 



" Hence the numerical proportion of different families of 

 plants found in a fossil state throws no light whatever upon 

 the ancient climate of the earth, but depends entirely upon 

 the power which particular families may possess, by virtue of 

 the organisation of their cuticle, of resisting the action of the 

 water wherein they floated previously to their being finally 

 fixed in the rocks in which they now are found." 



Art. II. Literary Notices. 



A Treatise on the Geography of Animals, the Natural Sys- 

 tem, and the Principles of Classification ; by W. Swainson, 

 Esq. ; being vol. ii. of the System of Zoology, and forming 

 vol. lxvi. of Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia. Published. 



Jardine's Naturalist's Library. Two volumes on British 

 Birds are in preparation. 



The Natural History of Beetles ; illustrated by 32 plates 

 and numerous woodcuts. By J. Duncan, M.W.S. This has 

 been published. A Memoir and Portrait of Ray are prefixed 

 to the work. 



Figures and Descriptions of upwards of 250 undescribed 

 Species of singular and beautiful Insects of India, and the Is- 

 lands of the Indian Seas, are, it has been announced, in prepara- 



