140 REVIEWS. 



that it is of more importance in a figure of Sinapis than perhaps in any other species of our 

 Diurnal Lcpidoptera, because the intensity of colour is the most palpable characteristic of at 

 least one nearly allied species." 



I need add no more, but when we find such "doctors disagree," it may teach us all that 

 humility which is the true spirit of science. 



I can shew the specimens to any entomologist. F. 0. MORRIS. 



Class Booh of Botany: heing an introduction to the study of the Vegetable 

 Kingdom. By J. H. Balfouk, M. D., F. R. S. E., etc. With upwards of 

 Eighteen Hundred Illustrations. Part II. — Physiological Botany. Edinburgh: 

 Adam and Charles Black. 1854. p.p. 755. 



In a short notice of the First Part of this work, at page 158 of vol. ii. 

 of ^'The Naturalist/' we expressed our decided opinion that we had a book of 

 great and intrinsic value before us: any one taking up the present work, which 

 is the second and concluding part, cannot avoid feeling that Dr. Balfour's high 

 character as a Botanist is amply and fully sustained. The volume is 

 indeed rich in varied and most useful informationj and we trust that any of 

 our readers requiring a Class Book will procure it. There are indeed few to 

 whom its pages would not prove instructive; while to the student it will be 

 an invaluable assistant. Even the agriculturist may learn much from this 

 volume; for he will find the principles on which many of his every-day works 

 are dependent fully explained; and the nature and properties of the plants 

 among which he lives elucidated. We cannot pretend to give any outline of 

 the subjects embraced in this volume, but shall take one or two short extracts 

 at random. At page 623, speaking of the "Vitality of seeds an(f modes of 

 preservation," he says, — 



"Some seeds must be sown immediately after they are ripe, otherwise they lose their vitality, 

 and decay. This is the case with the seeds of Magnolia, Coffee, Clove, and with those of an 

 oily and mucilaginous nature. Even though the germinating power is lost, the seeds may be 

 in a state fit for food. The seeds of the double Coco-nut, ( Lodoicca Seychellarum, ) when 

 carried from the Seychelles Islands to the Maldives, and those of Entada {Furswtha) sandeus» 

 when borne by the gulf-stream from the Antilles to the outer Hebrides, are to all appearance 

 fresh, although they will not sprout when planted. Wheat which had been placed in wooden 

 casks, well pitched and secured against tlie influence of the weather, in 1548, made excellent 

 bread at Zurich in 1799, although it did not germinate. Seeds with very delicate integuments 

 can seldom be kept longer thaa a few weeks or months, while hard and bony seeds have been 

 known to germinate after the lapse of many years. Certain seeds are known to retain their 

 germinative powers for a long time. The seeds of Cucumber have germinated after seventeen 

 years, those of Colsa and Malva crispa after eighteen, of Altha)a rosea after twenty-three, Maize 

 after thirty. Haricots, or French Beans, after thirty-three. Melons after forty-one. For sixty 

 years a bag of seeds supplied the Jardin des Plantes annually with Sensitive plants. Haricots 

 taken from the Herbarium of Tournefort, and wliich were at least one hundred years old, were 

 found to germinate, as were also seeds of Hieracium, fift}' years old, from Fries' Herbarium. 

 Grains of Rye have been found fertile after one hundred and forty years." 



In investigating the phenomena of Nature, Dr. Balfour finds nothing which 

 he can interpret as opposing the facts revealed to us in Holy Scripture; and 



