348 NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Tn tlie foregoino^ criticism we liave had occasion to indicate sundry 

 deJfcU of a work, whicli we hope will supply or correct them in a second 

 edition. Turning' now to the more agreeable subject of its merits, there 

 can be no doubt that Leighton's ' Lichen-flora ' contains an immense 

 mass of valuable information regai'ding the British Lichens, arranged in 

 convenient form, and occupying little bulk. This latest fruit of the pro- 

 lific pen, and patient, laborious research, of our most venerable and vene- 

 rated British Lichenologist is simply indispensable to all students of the 

 British Lichens ; and such students are to be found, not only in " Great 

 Britain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands," but in all English-speaking 

 and English-reading countries throughout the civilized world, including 

 the principal nations of the continent of Europe. 



W. Lauder Lindsay. 



Hardy Flowers ; Descriptions of upwards 0/ 1300 of the most Ornamental 

 Species, and Directions for their Arrangement, Culture, etc. By W. 

 Robinson, F.L.S. London: Warne and Co. Pp.341. 8vo. 



A Catalogue of Hardy Perennials^ Bulbs, Alpine Plants, Annuals, Bien- 

 nials, etc., inchiding n Complete List of British Flowering Plants and 

 Ferns. By the same Author. London: Murray. Pp.64. 8vo. 



We have often been asked by the owners of gardens, interested in 

 botany, where they could find a handbook in which was gathered together 

 an account of the common hardy cultivated plants of the country. A 

 little time ago it was not possible to answer the question satisfactorily, but 

 now those who want such a book will find in the present work and in a 

 similar one, published a year ago by Mr. Sutherland, who was formerly 

 head of the herbacL^ous department at Kew, all that they can reasonably 

 require. Both the authors are men of large experience and a thorough 

 knowledge of their subject practically, and the books are published at 

 such a moderate price that they are likely to command a large circulation. 

 We trust that the publication of the two works may be taken as a sign 

 that gardening taste is beginning again to flow in wider channels than 

 those in which it has run during the last dozen or twenty years, for most 

 lovers of British botany will agree with Mr. Robinson, when he says, " It 

 is to me a cause of surprise that while we find persons going to great 

 expense to build a glass box wherein to preserve a little of the pretty 

 vegetation of New Holland, and other warm climates, which is of neces- 

 sity always less beautiful and less satisfactory than vegetation flourishing 

 in the free air, we may seek in vain in their gardens for a group of the 

 noble hardy Lilies, for the vividly coloured and beautiful early spring 

 flowers of northern and temperate climes, or for any interesting and 

 beautiful hardy vegetation. We live in a country which is, on the whole, 

 better calculated for the successful culture of the most beautiful vegetation 

 of northern and temperate climes than any on the face of the earth, and, 

 at present, we take as much advantage of it as if we lived in one where 

 from extremes of some sort, such vegetation could not exist, and where 

 extraordinary and expensive artificial means were requisite for the enjoy- 

 ment of a little vegetable beauty. That the natives of cool latitudes are 

 of an inferior degree of beauty cannot be admitted. Travellers who love 

 iiian_Y aspects of vegetation give the palm to that of the meadows, heatiis, 

 and uplands of cool countries, and the high mountain sides, near the line 



