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; 
MONTHLY BOTANICAL REPORT. pi warts 
E never break up our number of the Botanical Magazine for the fyftematic arrangement ; 
of the plates, without deriving confiderable pleafure from eacli addition wé make to” 
the elegant feries of Irides, Ixie, and other Enfat#, that form Mr. Gawler’s department’ 
of this work Nor are we lets gratified by this gentleman’s text which, upon the whole,’ 
befpeaks a botanift intimately acquainted with and beftowing infinite pains on the eluci-  ‘ 
dation of that ditlicult tribe of plants. We muft, however, confefs that our pleafure, and 
undoubtedly alfo the value of his contributions, are much impaired by the garb in which 
moft of his obfervations are dreffed and prefented to the reader. It is really rather impo- 
litic in any writer who wifhes to be generally read and underftood, to {purn at old-efta- 
blithed rules, and to neglect ftyle, and the proper mode of conveying ideas, in fuch a 
wianner as we fee it done by Mr. Gawler: witnels the /pecifie differences of the plants he 
defcribes and the licentioulnefs with which he manages his Latinity. If we complain of 
the unreafonable length of his orationes fpecifice, (for, as we have before obferved, many 
of them comprize all figures of {peech,’ not to mention the frequent epifodes introduced 
‘anto them,) we do not with, with regard to the number of words that compofe the {pecific 
differeuces, to fee the old Linnean-ftatute revived, by which they were “ licenfed to carry 
not exceeding twelve.” The neceffity for this Iaconifm, which could but feldom prove 
fatisfattory to the ftudent, was fet afide by the tubfequent happy introduction of the trivial 
names of plants. And who would not blefs the memory of their immortal inventer, each 
time he is alarmed by Mr. Gawler’s luxuriant fpecific phrafes, which, if they fhall deferve ° 
this name, and be fit for a place in the fyftem, require to be judicially pruned? Now,’as 
this gentleman certainly knows how to ufe the pruning knife better than moft others, it is to 
be regretted that he fhould leave the tafk to others. Similar redundancies are indeed found 
in the fpecific characters of fome other (efpecially in thofe of fome celebrated French) 
botanifts, and Mr. G.-may urge thofe as precedents: but it is very doubtful whether he 
can find fuch an excufe for the Latin he produces. His expreffions and conftructions are 
not only here and there deficient in elegance or grammatical correctnets, but they are 
alfo otten obfcure and ambiguous; and his principal delight appears to confift in the” 
framing and introducing new words péculiar to himfelf, without confidering that there are 
old wen like ourfelves, who as ftubbornly refufe to unlearn what has coft them fo much 
Jabour and paius, and to make themfelves matters of a macaranica Jatinitas, as they would to 
renounce their full-bottomed wigs and broad-fkirted coats for the unclaflical coftume of # 
Bond-ftreet lounger of the prefent day * We are unwilling to get by heart adverbs like 
fubrepenter et prorepenter, afjurgenter, conduplicanter, pellucenter, ambienter, bianter, ancipiter, 
equitanter, or bilamellatim, Jubbilabiatim, angulatim, perarcuatim, flabellatim, &c. Nor can we 
more than guefs at the meaning of words like craticulatim-rimojxs, coriaceo-lentus, cuticulato-' 
confervens, filamenta confleGentia, femina SEMEL ficco-baccata, &c. not to mention many gram- 
matical blunders, fuch as the ill ufe which is continually made of the intenfive particle per 
united to the comparative degree, as foliis perbrevioribus, &c. &c. We have been always 
ready to acknowledge that writer’s critical acumen and talent for obferving, in the fame 
manner we are unwilling to defraud him of the praife which may be due to him for 
occafionally hitting upon words at once expreflive and corre&: tremulo-incumbens, for in- 
tance, is a happy manner of denoting a fituation of the anther, which is but imperfectly 
expreffed by verfatilis, &c. ; 
The Enfata in the three Jaft numbers before us are, Scilla Hyacinthoides, one of thofe 
bulbous plants that are of particular fhynefs in producing flowers. It is really a fubject 
worth the attention of a good obferver to inveftigate both the remote and proximate caufes 
of this fterility: the latter is probably a kind of plethora, of thefame kind with that which 
not feldom prevents the perfecting of feeds, and which may be artificially removed by fe- 
parating the ftalk of the plant from its root, and fufpending it in a dry fhady place, in 
which fituation the fuperabundant fupply of juices being cut off, the feeds are brought to. 
maturity.—-Allium Schoenoprajum B: the diiference iubfitting between the varieties major and 
minor is fo Dight, that we tuppofe Mr. G. «will, not devote a figure to the latter: that of 
major before us, is very charatterittic, and will ferve for the illaftration of both.  Alliam 
tataricum is here tated to be the wmbellatum of Haller and the ramojum of Linmeus. Inthe 
Addenda to this letter-prefs we are informed that A. inodorum, Gawl, is A. fragans of Ven- 
tenat:¢ both thefe botaniits were led to their names by the abfence of the garlick like. 
f{mell, which heightened into fragrance what tittle fmell the flower is pofleffed of —Allium 
magicum: the confufion and contradictions caufed by Linneus’s blending the two fpecies. 
nigrum and magicum are here very ably fettled: the fame may be faid of the two next fpe-! 
cies, Alliam angulofum and fenefcens 5 the diftinguifhing chara¢ters of which are given with 
great precifion.—Anigofeathus favida. ‘The hexandrous genus to whicli this plant belongsy; 
is a native of New Holland, and eftablifhed by Labillardiere : the large drooping green: 
flowers externally covered with vifcid glandulous hairs (flocculofim hirjuta as we find it termed) 
here) ate very charatteriftic. The firft fpecies defcribed by thé French botanitt is rufayl 
which at firft'view refembles the prefent, from which, however, according to Mr. Brown, 
- = = ar st : ere “sawn we Pre ears) Br) es yeh 
* Pomponius Marcellus faid to Tiberius: Tu Casar civitatem dare hominibus potes, werbig 
non. potes And what right can any one pretend ‘to have to do fo > } A 
t We lament to fee the death of this induftrious and ufeful botanift announced in the . 
French papers, which. 
“ 
