NEW PUBLICATIONS. 299 



that " the stems never alter in dimensions when once formed" is only 

 true if the transverse are meant, since, as pointed out by Brongniart,* 

 the lower parts of the stems continue to elongate in the direction of 

 their length. 



Schleidenf makes a vigorous remonstrance against the uselessness 

 of classifications of fruits. That given here enumerates 36 different 

 kinds. T)r. Masters is constrained to add that it is far from satisfac- 

 tory, and too complicated for the student, and he indicates the most 

 important by a difference of type. The rest might very well have 

 been discarded altogether, as has been done by Asa Gray in his text- 

 book. How many practical botanists use or even know the meaning 

 of Diclesinm, or Spluderocarpium, or Amphisarca ? One oversight 

 may be noticed ; fig. 280 is said to represent the drupe of a Date, 

 which is correctly stated to be an improper use of the term on the 

 following page. The Date is certainly a berry, with a solitary rather 

 large seed. AVhy, however, should not the Cocoa-nut be called a 

 drupe ? the only peculiarity is a fibrous, instead of a fleshy mesocarp. 



In the Systematic Botany, which remains a most admirable compen- 

 dium of condensed information, little has been done, except the addi- 

 tion of the most recent English views as to the affinities of the different 

 Orders. Henfrey's arrangement was in the main Candollean, with 

 some attempt, following Lindley, to throw the Orders into groups, to 

 which, however, no characters were assigned. The accounts of some 

 of the minor Orders have been compressed, and this might have been 

 perhaps carried further. If some rearrangement of the sequence, 

 after the views of Hooker and Bentham, with the adoption of some of 

 their aggregate Orders, would have been acceptable to students of sys- 

 tematic botany, teachers who demonstrate in botanic gardens will l)e 

 glad that it has not been disturbed. One peculiarity may be noticed ; 

 the descriptions of the epigynous Gamopetalse have been transferred to 

 the Corollifloraj, but in the analytical key they still remain among the 

 Calyciflorse. The common error that Cycads have characteristically 

 leaves circinatc in vernation should have been corrected. They arc 

 not so in the Zamieco and the Enceplialurlece, and in the Cijccuha it is 

 only the leaflets, and not the rachis, which are circinate. 



The most important feature of this edition is the description of the 



* Hist, des Vcg. Foss. t. i. p. 156. 

 t ' Principles of Botany,' p. 442. 



