Scientific Intelligence. 435 
4. Botanical. 
Dr. Romer of Zurich, has begun, since 1815, to publish a new 
edition of the Systema Vegetabilium of Linneus; he proceeds 
in its publication; it will form several volumes. 
Robert Brown of London, is endeavoring to group the nat- 
ural orders of plants into natural classes, or rather into larger 
natural orders, with determinate characters: he has communi- 
cated some parts of his labor to the botanists of Paris. He 
has been the first to employ as a new character in the distine- 
tion of natural orders, the estivation of flowers, or the manner 
in which they are folded in the buds. 
C. S. Rafinesque, in his Analysis of Nature, has adopted a 
new practice, that of giving single substantive Latin names to 
the natural orders and families of plants. oa 
Mirbel has proposed a new nomenclature of fruits in his 
Elements of Botany. 
Decandolle, after publishing the principles of the science in 
his Theory of Botany, has begun to undertake a general spe- 
cies plantarum, according to the natural classification. : 
Three splended Floras of the south of Europe have been 
undertaken... 1 Flora Greca, by Sibthorp and Smith in 
England. 2.-Flora Lusitanica, by Link and Hoffmansegg in 
Germany. 3. Flora.Nepolitana, by Tenore in Naples. They 
are very €Xpensive works, and are not yet terminated. Received 
in January, 1819. 
5.  Staurotide. 
Extact of a letter to the Editor, from John Torrey, M. D., of New York. 
“Mr. Pierce and myself lately found staurotide on the 
‘sland of New York. It occurs in considerable quantity in a 
rock of mica slute, on the banks of the Hudson, about three 
and a half miles from the city. The crystals very seldom form 
the perfect cross, though many were found, intersecting each 
other imperfectly at angles of 60°. Several single crystals 
were obtained exceedingly perfect. They were short 4-sided 
prisms, with the acute lateral edges truncated at each ex- 
