284 NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 



given when trustwortliy, and there is a full index to them. The 

 only books referred to are Beddome's 'Flora Sylvatica ' of South 

 India, Brandis's ' Forest Flora of N. W. India,' and the new general 

 ' Flora of India ' as far as iDublished. No synonyms are given. The 

 descrii)tions are good and clearly written, the book is well jn-inted, 

 and it will form a very useful addition to the Indian botanist's 

 library. 



Considering how much of the country included has still to be 

 examined, it is perhaps matter for surprise that so many as about 

 2000 trees and shrubs are here described ; but we have to do with 

 a very rich tropical vegetation, and there is little doubt that that 

 number falls very far short of the whole amount of woody plants. 

 Mr. Kurz himself added a large number of species in his short 

 expeditions ; and from the excellent account he has given in his 

 Report published in 1876, and also in the Introduction to the 

 present work, one can form a fair idea of the immense variety in 

 the character of the forests which cover nearly the whole country, 

 and extend from the Mangrove swamps of the sea to the dense 

 woods of Pinus Kasya, reaching up to 7000 feet, on the Martaban 

 hills. The prominent constituents of each kind of forest are 

 enumerated in the author's introductory description, and exhibit 

 the great variety of species which is met with in such troj)ical 

 districts, contrasting greatty in this respect with the gregarious 

 trees of the woods of temx^erate climes. 



The systematic botanist wiU find some species described m 

 this Flora for the first time ; but it is probable that the greater 

 part of the author's novelties were published by him in his series 

 of papers in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, which 

 however was uncompleted at the time of his death. 



H. T. 



On the Ajiocynacea of South America, with some preliminary remarks 

 on the whole family. With thirty-five plates to illustrate the 

 structure of the Genera. By John Miers, F.R.S., &c. Wil- 

 liams & Norgate, London. 1878. (Quarto, pp. 278). 



Another of Mr. Miers' elaborate and painstaking memoirs on 

 the plants of South America is here oftered to botanists, the result 

 of many years' work, dating indeed from the time of the venerable 

 author's residence in Brazil, we are afraid to say how many years 

 ago. The volume is uniform with the ' Illustrations of S. xVmerican 

 Plants ' and ' Contributions to Botany,' and presents that minute 

 discrimination and attention to generally neglected characters 

 which distinguish all that comes from j\Ir. Miers' pen and pencil. 



Only the S. American species of the Order are treated of here. 

 Those of Brazil have been comparatively recently monographed by 

 Miiller in the ' Flora Brasiliensis,' in 18G0 ; but the present 

 author, though acknowledging the high merit of that memoir, 

 considers that the species placed there under the great genera 

 Tdhemaiuoiitana and Kchitea, are a heterogeneous host, massed 

 together without any aids for satisfactory discrimination. One 



