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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



PlantcB DavidiancR ex Sinarum Imperio. Par. M. A. Fkanchet, 

 Attache a I'Herbier du Museum. Premiere partie. Plantes 

 de Mongolie, du Nord et du Centre de la Chine. Avec 27 

 Planches. Paris: G. Massou, 1884. 4to,pp. 390. Keprinted 

 from the ' Nouvelles Archives du Museum.' 



After having lain for about ten years in the herbarium of the 

 Paris Museum, the Chinese botanical collections of the Abbe 

 Armand David have been at last taken in hand by M. Franchet, 

 and the name of the author of the ' Enumeratio plantarum in 

 Japonia ' is a sufficient guarantee for excellent work in the pub- 

 lication before us. 



The Abbe David was for a long time attached to the Lazarist 

 Mission in Peking, where he had an opportu.nity of collecting most 

 of the species of North China and of adjacent Mongolia. After- 

 wards, under a commission from the French Minister of Public 

 Instruction, he travelled widely through Central and Western 

 China, and spent some nine months in Eastern Thibet. During 

 these explorations his attention was chiefly given to Zoology, but 

 he botanized as well, although he says that his collections must 

 be regarded only as samples of the rich flora of these regions. 



The total collections, according to M. Franchet, represent over 

 1500 species. The importance of the present volume, which deals 

 exclusively with plants from Mongolia and Northern and Central 

 China, is shown by its enumeration of 1143 species, of which 

 about 950 are recorded from China proper, while 64 are new to 

 science. 



The enumeration is prefaced by a most interesting letter from 

 the Abbe David, giving a rapid sketch of his travels from a 

 botanical point of view, with some account of the relation of the 

 flora to the geological structure of the country traversed. 



For the purposes of natural history Abbe David divides the 

 Chinese Empire into three great regions : — I. North China, 

 extending from the Yellow Eiver to the borders of Manchuria. 

 II. Eastern Mongolia, adjoining the Great Wall. III. The whole 

 of the generally mountainous country which forms South China, 

 including the enormous basin of the Yangtsze Eiver. 



The first and second regions are very similar in their fauna 

 and flora, as well as in their climate, the characteristics of which 

 are : — 1st, Great dryness, with some storms in summer, but with 

 little rain or snow during the rest of the year, and without heavy 

 dews until early July after the first showers. 2nd, A sky usually 

 clear, with frequent and disagreeable northerly winds. 3rd, Kegu- 

 larity of the seasons, the summer heat and winter cold being rarely 

 disturbed by sudden changes of temperature. 4th, A long, very 

 hot summer, and a rigorous winter. At Peking the great cold sets 

 in, almost without a transition, in November, and the river and sea- 

 coast are closed by ice from early December to March. In summer 

 the thermometer often rises above 105^ Fahr. in the shade, while 



