BOTANICAL LITERATURE. 71 



For the Mosses, Taylor and Hooker's Muscologia Britannica, 8vo., is indis- 

 pensable, and the intricate tribes of Algce are illustrated in Greville's Algce 

 Britannica, 8vo., Dillwyn's British Conferva, 4to., and Turner's British 

 Fuci. These are, however, all expensive books. The Lichens are exceedingly- 

 difficult to make out by mere description, and those who pay any attention to 

 this tribe of plants should undoubtedly procure Bohler's Lichenes Britannici, 

 now publishing in monthly fasciculi, at 3s. Cd. In this work actual specimens 

 are given wherever possible. The varied tribes of Fungi have been illustrated in 

 Sowerby's English Fungi, and Greville's Scottish Cryptogamic Flora. Both 

 must grace the shelves of every extensive botanical library, but their high price 

 excludes them of necessity from general use. A guide to the study of the British 

 Fungi, at a moderate price, is much wanted. 



If Arboriculture is the object in view, or curiosity is excited by timber-trees, 

 either natives of or growing in this country, Evelyn's Silva, folio, the same 

 work by Hunter, 2 vols. 4to., or Gilpin's Forest Scenery, either the original 

 edition or the new one by Sir T. Dick Lauder, are all full of information and 

 interest on the subject. Mr. Strutt, in his Sylva Britannica, and Delicice 

 Sylvarum, has given numerous faithful and striking portraits of many aged and 

 remarkable trees, though, to the disgrace of the votaries of a science said to be so 

 very popular, I have understood these works proved a loss to their projector, and 

 can now be obtained at a third of their original cost. It ought perhaps in con- 

 clusion to be mentioned, that Mr. Loudon is publishing an Arboretum et Fru- 

 ticetum Britannicum, containing a vast quantity of information on the culture of 

 trees and shrubs in Britain, with an immense number of plates, but unfortunately 

 three-fourths of the latter are, from a want ol character, of no use whatever to a 

 botanist. 



There are many works which a man might choose from curiosity to have in a 

 library, which, being of no practical use, are almost so much lumber, such as 

 Hill's Vegetable System, 26 vols, folio, Salmon's British Herbal, 2 vols, folio, 

 and others of the same class ; but old Gerarde, often quoted from, and containing 

 many a quaint observation, perhaps deserves to be preserved and examined. 

 There are no doubt many other good works on Botany that might be mentioned, 

 but a multiplicity of authorities can only confound a student, who, once master 

 of his subject, can then judge for himself, and amuse his taste or his fancy 

 according to the seduction that presents itself. If it be intended to bring bo- 

 tanical knowledge to bear upon the broken vegetable relics of a former state of 

 things, the able work of Lindley and Hutton on the Fossil Flora of Great 

 Britain, 8vo., with numerous plates, must be consulted. This, indeed, will be a 

 monument of industry and skill when completed. 

 Dryadville Cottage, near Worcester, 

 December 11, 183?. 



