Miscellanies. 173 
already cited is ninety-nine, of which eighty-nine are published. The 
plants collected in Capt. Beechey’s voyage at Kotzebue Sound and 
California, (the only places in North America where collections were 
made,) were noticed in an early part of the volume; but in a supple- 
ment, which nearly occupies the seventh, eighth, and ninth parts, the 
Californian collection of the late Mr. Douglas is described, with the 
addition of a smaller collection made in what is called the ‘ Snake 
Country,’ which name is given to the prairie region between Califor- 
nia and the Rocky Mountains, through which Snake River, or Lewis. 
River, holds its course. Among the plates given in the present fas- 
ciculus, the most interesting are that of Nuttallia cerasiformis, Torr. 
Gr. (a very remarkable Rosaceous plant,) Calycanthus occidenta- 
lis, Hook. Arn., and Lewisia rediviva, Pursh, which singular plant 
is at last fully described and illustrated: It was brought to the 
United States by Capt. Lewis many years ago; it is so tenacious of 
life, that the roots brought by him to Philadelphia, without care, be- 
ing intended only as specimens, vegetated and grew freely when placed 
in the earth, and the same thing took place with specimens sent to 
London by Douglas; it appears to abound on all the upper branches 
of the Oregon, where the roots are an important article of food with 
the Indians; yet it is only very recently that sufficient specimens have 
been obtained to complete the very imperfeet account of the plant 
given by Pursh. This had however been done in part by Mr. Nut- 
tall, from a specimen brought by Mr. Wyeth, from which a figure was 
made for the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 
delphia. 
5. The Genera of South African Plants, arranged according to 
the Natural System ; by Wm. Henry Harvey, Esq. (Cape-Town, 
1838. pp. 429, Syo.)—This volume was written, printed 
handsome style, and published, at the Cape of Good Hope. It was 
prepared, not, as we might suppose, for the purpose of making Cape 
plants better known to European botanists, but for the use of the 
students and lovers of flowers at the Cape! It is arranged, more- 
over, according to the Natural System, and is throughout a work of 
genuine science. Truly, if popular botanical works, based on the 
Natural System, are deemed most advantageous for students at the 
Cape of Good Hope, we may indulge the expectation that this method 
will in due time be universally adopted in Europe and the United 
States. Mr. Harvey, who while occupied with his duties as Colonial 
eretary, has been enabled to do so much for the botany of that rich 
and interesting region, both by his own researches and by encouraging 
the labors of others, was requested to recommend some introductory 
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