XIU 



Lizard," (Phytol. ii. 235). In this commumcation there is scarcely 

 an irrelevant word, and certainly no sentence of any length that does 

 not leave the reader impressed with some fact or suggestion worthy of 

 being remembered. There are many papers of the same kind to 

 which I might invite attention, but this strikes me as the best example 

 of what the record of a ' botanical ramble ' ought to be : everything 

 worthy of publication should be published ; eveiything trite, or com- 

 mon-place, or puerile, or personal, suppressed. Were these observa- 

 tions kept in view, I feel confident that no one would ever dissent 

 from the opinion, that the record of a botanical ramble is both 

 agreeable and useful. I am the more anxious to reiterate this statement, 

 which has already appeared on the wi-apper of a monthly number, fi-om 

 the circumstance that the dissemination of the opinion above alluded 

 to, has had the effect of deterring several contributors from sending 

 their observations, under the fear that these might not appear of suffi- 

 cient scientific value in the eyes of the Editor ; and thus, as I am led 

 to believe, the ' Phytologist ' has been deprived of many interesting 

 and instructive papers which would otherwise have adorned its pages : 

 and let me remind my correspondents that this is not the only loss, for 

 in consequence of this defalcation, the quantity of matter in each 

 monthly number has decreased, a circumstance fully as much at 

 variance with my wishes as with those of the kind subscribers who 

 have supported the work fi-om its commencement. 



EDWARD NEWMAN. 



9, Devonshire Street, Bishopsgate, 

 Dec. 26th, 1846. 



