Bibliographical Notices, ^ 



smallest details. The book . contains full-length portraits of forty- 

 three species, accompanied in several cases with an enlarged figure of 

 some of their parts. These portraits are especially interesting to 

 Europeans, from our having no native trees of this graceful group ; 

 the only palm of our quarter of the world being the Chamcbrops hu- 

 milis, which inhabits Sicily. 



In the introduction Mr. Wallace has given a most curious accoimt 

 of the almost endless uses to which palms are applied by the inhabit- 

 ants of tropical countries. It is probable that very few of his readers 

 will have had any approach to an adequate conception of their value, 

 not only to those who live amongst the palm-trees themselves, but 

 also to us and other nations of the temperate regions of the earth. 



We should like to transfer some part of this introduction to our 

 pages, but find that it must be the whole or none. We choose the 

 latter alternative, in the confident hope that very many o^ our readers 

 will see it in the book itself. '^^^ ^'^^ ^^"^ ^^ t^^^^** 



TheBotanisfs Word-Book : an Etymological and Explanatory Voca- 

 bulary of the Terms employed in the Science of Botany. By 

 >i G. Macdonald and J. Allan. London : Reeve & Co., 1853. 



We are sorry that it is not in our power to recommend this little 

 book, for there are internal proofs of its having been compiled by 

 persons unacquainted with botany. It is full of blunders, and even 

 if correct, it would have been found to be far too meagre to be of use 

 to botanical students. For instance : " Acina. The small granules 

 which make up a bramble or mulberry." Of course we need scarcely 

 add that it means neither, and that they are not of similar structure. 

 " Adnate. Applied to stipulse growing close to the stem." To take 

 another part of the book : " Nodose. Knotty. A term applied to a 

 particular form of pubescence." "Pappus. A particular kind of 

 seed." But we have said enough, and are sorry that Messrs. Reeve 

 should have been persuaded to publish such a book., , 



^ ^ I 1«70 ^^DOl flDttt 



A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, with an 

 Account of the Native Tribes and Observations on the Climate, 

 Geology, and Natural History of the Amazon Valley. By A. R. 

 Wallace. Pp.541. 8vo. London, 1853. Reeve & Co. 



This book has interested us greatly, and we advise our readers to 

 peruse it. The travels of a good naturalist in such a region as that 

 of the Amazon could scarcely be related without forming a most 

 agreeable work. That is pre-eminently the case in the instance be- 

 fore us, in which the author has so happily blended the account of 

 his journey with the scientific observations, as to produce a narrative, 

 which no reader, even only slightly or not at all acquainted with 

 natural science, will read without pleasure. 



During a residence of four years in the valley of the Amazou, 

 Mr. Wallace visited most of the interesting places upon the banks of 

 the lower half of that great river, and also throughout nearly the 

 whole extent of the Rio Negro. Perhaps the most interesting part 



