LINNEAN SOCIETY OP LONDON. Iv 



of insects, the work of a single hand or, indeed, guided by a single 

 mind. The great division of labour, however, now prevalent among 

 entomologists may procure it for us in detail, with one drawback 

 only, that the smaller the portion of the great natural class of Arthro- 

 poda to which the entomologist confines his attention, the less he will 

 be able to appreciate the significance of distinctive characters, and 

 the more prone he will be to multiply small genera (that is, to 

 enhance beyond their due the races of the lowest grade), to the great 

 inconvenience of the general naturalist who has to make use of the 

 results of his labours. 



A ' Genera Plantarum ' is stiU within the capabilities of a single 

 botanist, although he must of course trust much to the observations 

 of others, and therefore not so satisfactory as if he had examined 

 every species himself. The last complete cue was Endlicher's, the 

 result of several years' assiduous labour, but now thirty years old. 

 Dr. Hooker and myself commenced a new one, of which the first part 

 was published in 1862, and which might have been brought nearly 

 to a close by this time had we not both of us had so many other 

 works on hand to deter us, although the researches necessary for 

 these other works have proved of great assistance in the ' Genera.' As 

 it is, the part now nearly ready for press carries the work down to 

 the end of Compositse, or about half through the Phgenogamous 

 Plants. In regard to works of a stiU more general description, or 

 exposition of the families or orders of plants, we have nothing of 

 importance since Lindley's ' Vegetable Kingdom,' dated 1845, but 

 republished, with some additions and corrections, in 1853 ; and Le 

 Maout and Decaisne's ' Traite Generale,' mentioned in my Address of 

 1868, and of which Mrs. Hooker is now preparing an English trans- 

 lation under the supervision of Dr. Hooker. Dr. Baillon has also 

 commenced an ' Histoire des Plantes,' containing a considerable 

 number of useful original observations and illustrated by excellent 

 woodcuts ; but, as a general work, one portion is of too popular a 

 character, and in some cases too diffuse, to be of much use to 

 science, and, on the other hand, the generic characters are too 

 technical for a popular work without any contrasted synopsis ; and 

 its great bulk in proportion to the information conveyed will 

 always be a drawback. I cannot believe that the author can have 

 been a party to the unblushing announcement of the French 

 publisher that it is to be completed in about eight volumes. If 

 carried out on the plan of the first one, it must extend to four 

 or five times that number. In Zoology Bronn's most valuable 

 * Klassen und Ordnungeu des Thierreichs,' continued after his 



9^ 



