"264: Hooker's Botanical Miscellany. 



J. E. Smith, Vol. V., containing the British Plants of the 

 24-th class, Cryptogamia, except the Ferns given in Vol. 

 IV. : or Vol. II. of Dr. Hooker's British Flora ; Part I. 

 comprising the Mosses, Hepaticae, Lichens, Characeae, and 

 Algae. 8vo, 432 pages. London, 1833. 125. in boards. 



This clew to an acquaintance with the less easily dis- 

 tinguishable forms of British vegetation has been wanted for 

 years. It is true that very much of the information supplied 

 in the present half-volume, or " part," has been extant in the 

 world for some time, but scattered through a diversity of 

 volumes, and some of them so expensive, that none but 

 wealthy persons could procure them : part of them, too, were 

 written in Latin ; and were, consequently, no facility to those 

 who, however desirous to inform themselves on the crypto- 

 gamous plants of Britain, happened to be unacquainted with 

 that language. All these inconveniences are now removed ; 

 and, in the " part" whose scope is given in the title above, we 

 have a transcript of the essence of all that has been published 

 on the objects within that scope, accompanied by a useful 

 intermixture of original information derived from the know- 

 ledge of the learned editor, and the observation of his 

 coadjutors and friends. " The obligations," says Dr. Hooker, 

 " I lie under to those friends are invariably mentioned in the 

 respective pages which owe so much to them ; but it behoves 

 me, in an especial manner, to express my grateful acknow- 

 ledgments to Mrs. Griffiths [to whom Dr. Hooker dedicates 

 the book], and to Messrs. Borrer, Greville, Arnott, Wilson, 

 and Harvey. The papers of the late Capt. Carmichael have 

 also been an invaluable help to me." This quotation is from 

 the preface, which is throughout replete, with amiable feeling. 



" Another part, containing the second portion of the vo- 

 lume, will embrace the only remaining order, the Fdngi, and 

 will be published with all the speed consistent with careful 

 execution." 



Hooker, TV. J. : The Botanical Miscellany ; containing 

 Figures and Descriptions of such Plants as recommend 

 themselves by their Novelty, Rarity, or History, or by the 

 Uses to which they are applied. 8vo. London. In quar- 

 terly parts, 105. 6d. each. 



Part IX. was published early in April, and contains an 

 interesting and complete account of the Tanghinia veneniflua 

 Bojer, the poisonous seed of which is used as an ordeal in 

 Emirna, a province of Madagascar, for ascertaining the inno- 

 cence or guilt of persons accused of crimes. Dr. Wright de- 

 scribes some genera and species of Indian plants, of which 



