354 REVIEWS. 



Arabic from the Greek of Dioscorides. It Is probable, to say 

 the least, that it has been rightly appropriated to Dolichos 

 Lubia, Forskal (De Candolle, 278), rather than to any species 

 of Phaseolus. 



The length to which our annotations have extended forbids 

 all notice of the third part of this book. This, however, is 

 very brief. It contains a tabulation of the plants of cultiva- 

 tion, and of the results of the preceding discussion of them ; 

 also an article on the regions in which the principal species 

 have originated or have been brought into cultivation, in which 

 it is stated that of the 247 species under investigation the Old 

 World has furnished 199, and America 45, leaving three 

 which are doubtful in this regard ; and the extreme poverty 

 of the southern hemisphere beyond the tropics is a striking 

 feature. An article on the number and nature of species 

 cultivated at different periods is noteworthy. So, also, is the 

 enumeration of the cultivated plants which are unknown in 

 a wild state ; from which it is gathered that 27 species have 

 never been found wild by any botanist, 27 more are doubtful 

 in this respect, while 193 are of recognizable origin. 



Of the " Reflexions diverses," at the close, we note only the 

 final one, that " In the history of cultivated plants I have 

 found no indication of communications between the inhabitants 

 of the Old and New World anterior to the discovery of Amer- 

 ica by Columbus. The Scandinavians, who had carried their 

 expeditions to the northern United States, and the Basques of 

 the Middle Ages, who had extended their whaling voyages 

 perhaps to America, would appear not to have transported 

 a single cultivated species. The Gulf-stream has equally been 

 without effect. Between America and Asia two transi)orta- 

 tions may have been effected, one by man (the Batatas), the 

 other either by man or by the sea (Cocoa-nut)." 



Perhaps the Banana should be ranked with the Sweet 

 Potato in this regard. And we may merely conjecture that 

 the Purslain came to our eastern coast with the Scandinavians 

 or the Basques. 



