50 Bibliographical Notices. 



s, chitinous shield ; k, crown. The soft part of the head is 



wanting. 

 Fig. 3. The portion of the Lernceodiscus which is situated within the Por- 



cellana, magnified 25 diameters : b, chitinous lamellae ; k, crown ; 



w, roots. 

 Fig. 4. Sacculina purpurea, magnified 3 times: a, from below; b, from 



the right side ; a, b, k, as in fig. 2. 

 Fig. 5. The portion of the Sacculina situated within the Pagurus, magnified 



15 diameters : k, crown ; w, roots. 

 Fig. 6. Earliest larval state of Lernceodiscus, from beneath, magnified 



180 diameters. 

 Fig. 7. Earliest larval state of Sacculina, from above, magnified 180 dia- 

 meters. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Manual of British Botany. By Charles Cardale Babington, 

 M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S. &c, &c, Professor of Botany in the Uni- 

 versity of Cambridge. Fifth Edition, with many additions and 

 corrections. London : Van Voorst, 1862. 



The ' Manual of British Botany ' continues to maintain a steadily 

 progressive character. Every page of the new edition bears witness 

 to the industry and care of its author, and to his endeavour to keep 

 pace with the advance of botany on the European continent. The 

 Synopsis of Orders has been altogether remodelled, and is now 

 arranged on the analytical or dichotomous plan so much used by 

 French botanists. The descriptions of several of the more difficult 

 genera and species have been re-written. Many improvements have 

 also been made in defining the places of growth and range of the 

 plants ; and we meet with a welcome addition in the form of a glos- 

 sary of botanical terms, which, like the accents now placed over the 

 Latin names, will no doubt be found very serviceable. 



Professor Babington thus announces his botanical creed : — " An 

 attempt has recently been made greatly to reduce the number of our 

 native species. The results seem to be so totally opposed to the 

 teaching of the plants themselves, and the evidence adduced in their 

 favour is so seldom more than a statement of opinion, that they can- 

 not safely be adopted. Also, it has been laid down as a rule by some 

 botanists that no plant can be a species whose distinctive characters 

 are not as manifest in a herbarium as when alive. We are told that 

 our business as descriptive botanists is not ' to determine what is a 

 species,' but simply to describe plants so that they may be easily 

 recognized from the dry specimen. The author cannot agree to this 

 rule. Although he, in common with other naturalists, is unable to 

 define what is a species, he believes that species exist, and that they 

 may often be easily distinguished amongst living plants, even when 

 separated with difficulty from their allies when dried specimens only 

 are examined. He also thinks that it is our duty as botanists to 

 study the living plants whenever it is possible to do so, and to de- 

 scribe from them — to write for the use of field- rather than cabinet- 



