Wyatfs Alga Damnonienscs. 95 



ceeds to argue the untenableness of four of these, and the 

 tenableness of the fifth, with which his own coincides. This 

 is that of Rudolphi and Bresmer, " that the entozoa in general 

 are generated primarily, not from ova at all, but spontaneously 

 in each organ in which they are found." 



Tf^att, Mar?/, Dealer in Shells at Torquay : Algae Damno- 

 nienscs, or Dried Specimens of Marine Plants, collected, 

 principally, on the Coast of Devonshire. Vol. I., con- 

 taining specimens of fifty species. Simpkin and Marshall, 

 London. 



We have announced this work in VI. 445. Mr. Babington 

 has contributed the following remarks on the first volume of 

 it: — " The plants are carefully dried, are very fine and perfect 

 specimens, and most of them are beautifully in fructification. 

 The names adopted are those used in Dr. Hooker's British 

 Flora, vol. ii., and a reference is also given to Greville's Algce 

 Britannicce ; Sowerby's English Botany and Dillwyn's Cori- 

 JervcE are also quoted in some places. Many of the plants 

 in this volume are rare, such as Nitophyllum oceanicum and 

 z/lvoideum, Laurenc/a obtusa and tenuissima, Gigartina 

 acicularis and TeedzV ; and the three following new species 

 described by Hooker in his British Flora^ Mesogloia purpurea, 

 Griffithsz^TZtt, and virescens. The work is known to be 

 under the superintendence of a lady justly celebrated as a 

 marine botanist." [Mrs. Griffiths.] 



Finch, /., Esq., Cor. Mem. Nat. Hist. Soc. Montreal, &c. : 

 Travels in the United States of America and Canada, 

 containing some Account of their Scientific Institutions, 

 and a few Notices of the Geology and Mineralogy of those 

 Countries: to which is added, an Essay on the Natural 

 Boundaries of Empires. 8vo, 455 pages. London, 

 Longman, 1833. 



The " essay on the natural boundaries of empires " should 

 be our quarry, but we can only note its drift. " The limits 

 of empires are controlled by the physical geography of the 

 soil, and the power of man : the first is eternal, the last 

 variable. The decisions of nature soon cut asunder the 

 artificial arrangements of man. To acquire a true knowledge 

 of the history of nations, we must study the physical structure 

 of the soil, for this is the leading feature on which historical 

 details are always dependent. Mountains, seas, and oceans, 

 rivers, lakes, deserts, and forests, form natural divisions on 

 the surface of the earth, which serve as boundaries to the 

 several empires." The relative influence of these is then 



