p. BUBANI FLORA PYRENAEA. 151 



brought to bear upon his Flora. It is indeed widely different in 

 almost every particular from the average work of the kind. It 

 is written in Latin throughout ; the synonymy is of the most 

 elaborate description ; and the notes upon each species show an 

 acquaintance with botanical literature, both ancient and recent, 

 which can hardly be exceeded. The space devoted to localities is 

 but small, but his intimate acquaintance with the country enables 

 the author to express succinctly and with precision the distribution 

 of the species ; he usually, however, gives the exact localities of his 

 own gatherings, with dates. He divides the Pyrenees into three 

 botanical regions, the oceanic, the mediterranean, and the alpine, 

 and in his preface discusses the comparative richness and other 

 peculiarities of each. The De Candollean system of classification 

 IS mainly followed, though in reversed order, beginning with 

 Gymnosperms, and then taking the Mouochlamyde^e of Angio- 

 sperms ; in this volume the CoroUiflorse are included only from 

 FlumhaginecE to AsclepiadacecB ; lihamnacea (of which CelastrinecB and 

 Aquifoliacem are considered tribes) is interposed between Oleacece 

 and Acanthacece. In the forty-two natural orders included there 

 are 177 genera and 642 species ; doubtful species and those which 

 he does not regard as properly Pyrenean, though admitted by 

 some authors, he places at the end of each family or genus, and 

 they are not counted. 



In the acceptation of genera, Bubani regards habit and general 

 aspect rather than technical characters. As the plan of the book 

 was formed many years ago, the first draft of it having been finished 

 nearly half a century before its publication, it does not deal with 

 the highly critical species of certain modern botanists ; he defines a 

 species as that in which concur distinct tangible and constant 

 characters, and carries out his idea on a moderate scale, as can be 

 judged when a comparison is made with Gautier's recently published 

 catalogue of the flora of the eastern Pyrenees, which is only a part 

 of the area covered by Bubani's Flora ; in Gautier's catalogue there 

 is an aggregate of 574 species for the same portion of the vegetable 

 kingdom. 



A leading feature in the work is the evidence of his research 

 into the older books, and of his appreciation of the labours of the 

 fathers of botany. His lucubrations have resulted in very curious 

 and astounding developments ; our author, not content with citing 

 the older botanists, such as Dioscorides, Mattioli, Theophrastus, 

 Lonitzer, &c., and referring to the Bible, Homer, Virgil, &c., under 

 many of the species, proceeds to use the names given by some of 

 them, and relegates to synonymy Linnean and other names which 

 have long been adopted by botanists. While following the method 

 of binominal nomenclature, he combats the idea that Linnfeus 

 invented this method, and shows that such names were given by 

 several of the ante-Linnean writers, who, he claims, gave them in 

 many instances not casually, but by set purpose. He exhibits a 

 very limited admiration for Liunseus and his ways, and broadly 

 states that the Species Plantariim of that master was a very bad 

 book, and full of mistakes ; and he complains that Linnaeus in 



