ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 281 



some of them are somewhat crude and inartistic, they give a very 

 good idea of the plants. Several of the species, especially as 

 regards the magnified parts, are much more fully illustrated than 

 in any previous book. Lamyrothamnus Hausenii is, we believe, 

 figured for the first time. Altogether the book is a valuable 

 addition to (7Art/-a-literature, and will be of great use to those 

 working specially at the order. 



The Synopsis Characearum EuwpcBarum is an abridgment of the 

 foregoing work, and is much more convenient and get-at-able, con- 

 taining almost all the illustrations of the larger book, with the 

 letterpress much condensed. The specific descriptions; though 

 considerably shorter, will still, we think, be found sufficient for all 

 practical purposes. The descriptions of the multitudinous varieties 

 are in most cases reduced to a few lines. H & T Tr 



Illustrated Guide to the Royal Gardens, Kew. Edited by Mrs. S. 

 GoLDNEY. London : Dawbarn & Ward [no date] . Price Is. net. 



We do not know whether a remark we made (p. 35) in noticing 

 what is practically an earlier issue of this little book suggested its 

 appearance in its present form ; but in any case it to some extent 

 remedies the manifest inconvenience caused by the long-continued 

 absence of any official Guide to Kew Gardens. The "poetry" con- 

 tributed by Mrs. Goldney to the former work is here replaced by 

 undoubted prose, written, it would seem from the use of the male 

 pronoun, by some man who desires to remain anonymous, and 

 edited, as we are told, by Mrs. Goldney. 



The information contained in the Guide is so '' miscellaneous " 

 that it might be worth while for the Kew authorities to include it in 

 the " additional series" of the Bulletin. We learn that ''plants are 

 sent [to Museum No. 17] from all parts of the world, for the pur- 

 pose of being identified and placed in their proper class " ; but as in 

 the Herbarium "names are assigned to the dried plants which 

 arrive from foreign countries," it would seem that an economy of 

 labour might be effected by a union of these two establishments. 

 A window in the Museum traces "the career of the Cotton Plant, 

 from the period of sowing until it reaches the goal of its ambition — 

 the covering of the human frame." Ambition, though a well- 

 known characteristic of the Snark, seems to us new in the cotton 

 plant. " On the second floor we find Sir Joseph Banks, who col- 

 lected rare plants from all parts of the world, and enriched the Kew 

 Museums (!) and Houses with them, notably the Fuchsia and Hy- 

 drangea. Near his bust we find a picture of Captain Cook. Sir 

 Joseph Banks sailed with him to the Pacific, as Botanist, and the 

 two friends largely added to Mr. Alton's Catalogue of Plants." If 

 the Guide has derived the advantage of Mrs. Goldney's editing, the 

 work as it left the writer's hands must have been curious reading. 



The title-page tells us that the Guide is "illustrated from 

 photographs taken expressly for this work"; but they are the same 

 as appeared in the other work. Any way they are well worth the 

 shilling demanded for the book. 



