f^60 Analysis of Scientific Books and Memoirs. 



the manner most commonly known. At the return of peace, and when a 

 nation begins to feel the benefit of repose, opportunity is offered fbr reflec- 

 tion, and extreme rapidity of operation gives place to inquiries into the 

 best methods of executing the details of duty, and of throwing into the 

 practical operations of the ship-builder some of the genuine principles of 

 science. Let us hope that this great country, which owes its proud and 

 commanding position among the nations of the earth so essentially to its 

 marine, will lose no opportunity of imparting to it every improvement that 

 the enlarged experience of modern times has disclosed ; and to prepare it, 

 if the unfortunate destiny of man should so require, for a more splendid 

 and triumphant maintenance of the national honour and glory than even 

 our former brilliant achievements displayed. 



Il.^-Al^ce Britannicw, or Description of the Marine and other Jnarticu" 

 lated Plants of the British Islands belonging to the Order Algoe ; with 

 Plates illustrative of the Genera. By Robert Kaye (xaifyiLLE, LL« D. 

 &c. &c. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1830. 



To the lovers of Botany the name of Dr Greville is well known. His 

 Scottish Cryptogamic Flora, unrivalled for accurate and beautiful figures 

 of plants hitherto but little studied in Scotland, and his Flora Edinensis, 

 not to speak of his other contributions to phytology, have placed him in 

 the first rank among British botanists. The present volume, with its ele- 

 gant plates, is calculated still further to extend his reputation, and spread 

 a wider taste for marine botany. Those numerous individuals who visit 

 our sea shores for health or relaxation, will find this work of Dr Greville 

 a valuable guide to the submerged vegetation which fringes the rocky 

 shores of Britain ; and, by pointing out wonders in beauty and structure 

 where the unpractised eye sees nothing uncommon, lead many to observe 

 and appreciate the thousand sources of enjoyment which nature has so li- 

 berally provided. Had he added the Confervce of Linnaeus (the Vaucheri- 

 deae, Ectocarpoideae, and Confer voideae of the Flora Edinensis,) to the 

 volume, it would hare been more generally useful, as numbers of these 

 very beautiful plants are found in the same localities as the Inarticulated 

 Algae. These, however, may perhaps form the subject of a future work. 



In the introduction Dr Greville gives a slight historical sketch of the 

 writers who have gone before him in this branch of botany, — an outline of 

 the geographical distribution of the Inarticulated Algce, — and a few no- 

 tices on the economical uses to which they are applied. 



The arrangement of the Alga followed in this volume is Dr GreviUe's 

 own ; having found reason, he says, from investigations of their structure 

 and fructification, to differ from the previous classification of Lamouroux 

 and Agardh* He divides the Algce into fourteen orders, viz, Fucoideae, 

 Lichineae, Laminarieae, Sporochnoideae, Chordarieae, Dictyoteae, Furcel- 

 larieae, Spongiocarpeae, Florideae, Thaumasieae, Gastrocarpeae, Caulerpeae, 

 Ulvaceae, and Siphoneae. These orders are composed of eighty-nine genera, 

 '• A synopsis of these genera in the Latin tongue, with a systematic enu- 

 meration of all the better known species, with authoritative references," 



