184 NOTICE OF BOTANICAL PUBLICATIONS. 
making an excursion into the woods and fields and mountains: ; 
of this country; and the chief objection to its more general - 
usefulness, is the extreme brevity of the characters; so that we à 
have not a sufficient number of marks by which to identify a | : 
given genus or species. As an example of this, we have at B: 
this moment the book lying before us at page 72, where the — 
species of Silene are described; and the first division stands - 
thus:— . 
SILENE. d 
1 $ Stem very short, single-flowered. . . . S. acaulis. 
Stem elongated, many-flowered. .... . 2. (&e.) | 
Now, there are other species of the genus, such as S. comica, — 
S. Anglica, &c., which, in a dwarf or starved state, may be : 
found to come under the first of these two characters; and - 
the curious structure of the leaves of S. acaulis, which would 
at once determine that beautiful plant, is entirely omitted. a 
Nor has this difficulty been lost sight of by the able author, ; 
who thus explains the mode of employing his little book:— — 
“The student,” he says, * having acquainted himself with its 
class and order, must carefully compare the plant, with the - 
contrasted character in each paragraph, whilst he is referred — 
from one number to another, till he has detected its genus. . 
Next, turning to the genus, he will pursue his way, through 
the numbered paragraphs, till he arrives at the species. He 
must now take up a Flora, and on referring to the full descrip- ` 
tion both of genus and species, he will not fail to discover - 
whether his conjecture be right, or whether he be at fault. — 
In the latter case he must, of course, retrace his steps with | 
more caution; but, after a little experience, his difficulties | 
will become fewer, and his chance of success will be raised — 
almost to certainty." 3 | TU dE 
Two appendices are added to the volume; the one a brief oe: 
analysis of the classes, orders, and families of the natural P 
system, with references to the more extended tables of the 
Linnean which precede it; and, secondly, a glossary of the 
_ technicalities used in the larger analysis. ‘The author con- 
cludes his preface by “commending his analysis to- the 
