THE MICROGRAPHIC DICTIONARY. 229 



Generum " of crjptogamic plants, these articles may have a 

 certain value to the botanist, who will most probably, 

 however, seek his information elsewhere ; and of what use, 

 we may ask, to the physiologist or histologist, or to the 

 general microscopic observer, are such notices as these ? — 

 " Drepanopliyllece, a family of acrocarpous Mosses ; con- 

 taining one East Indian genus, Drepanophyllum, Rich., 

 imperfectly known ;" or, " Dryostachium, J. Sm.. a genus of 

 Polypodiece, with very much branched, anastomosing veins, 

 with free branches in the meshes ;" or, " Fadyenia, Hook., a 

 genus of Nepkrodiece (polypodseous Ferns) ; exotic."— Of 

 which hundreds might be extracted. In general, however, the 

 botanical articles appear to have been judiciously selected, 

 and the descriptions are clear, correct, and well illustrated. 



The articles having reference to the animal kingdom, much 

 fewer in number, also include a great amount of matter 

 which seems to us nearly useless where it is given. Surely 

 matters more interesting to those for whom the Micrographic 

 Dictionary is especially adapted might have been selected 

 than those taken from Kolliker's ' Microscopic Anatomy of 

 the Human Body,' with the large and well-known woodcuts 

 given in that work. What, again, is the use of occupying 

 two whole pages with an antiquated tabular view of the 

 animal kingdom, in which, by the way, we observe that the 

 Dugong is parted from its old congeners, the Cetacea, and 

 placed among the Pachydermata, whilst the Shrew {Sorex) is 

 made to forget its Insectivorous relatives, and figui^e among 

 the Rodents ? Its hair alone, to adopt a microscopic test, 

 would show that it was an intruder there. The Polyzoa 

 {^Bryozoa) still range with the Polypi, and numerous micro- 

 scopic creatures find no place at all in the list. Of what 

 service, also, are such notices as those of Calia, Caligus, 

 CaryopJiyllceus, Caseine, Cecrops, Filaria, Platinum, Che- 

 misti'y, and many others, which occupy so needlessly much 

 valuable space? Other matters, as, for instance, " Polarized 

 light," of great interest to the microscopist, and upon which 

 he is sure to demand information, are treated in the most 

 cursory way. The article on that subject conveys no informa- 

 tion whatever, and yet it might have been made, in a short 

 space, both interesting and useful. The execution, moreover, 

 of several articles more fully given is by no means what it 



miaht be. As an instance of the extent to which the con- 



... 

 fusion of totally distinct thmgs under one term may be 



carried, we would cite the article " Po/z/pz," which contains 



nearly as many errors as lines. Under the head of Grantia 



no mention is made of Mr. Bowerbank's interesting and 



VOL. IV. R 



