1048 



literature, not without some serious deficiences ; but its excellencies 

 very much outbalance its defects. 



C. 



Contents of 1 Hooker's Journal of Botany] No. 21, September, 1850. 



Contributions to the Botany of Western India. By N. A. Dalzell, 

 M.A. 



Continuation of Mr. Spruce's Letters from South America. 



Notes on the Botany of Jamaica. By Dr. R. C. Alexander. 



Botanical Information : Orchidacese found in Assam, &c. The late 

 Professor Koch's Herbarium. 



Notice of Macfadyen's Flora of Jamaica, second volume. 



Contents of the ' Botanical Gazette,'' No 21, September, 1850. 



Some observations on the Herbaceous Rosacea?. By T. Irraisch. 

 [From the ' Botanische Zeitung.'] 



On Sagina apetala and S. ciliata. By Charles C. Babington, M.A. 

 [The Author contends that these are two distinct species, and that 

 both are also distinct from the true S. maritima. Unfortunately, his 

 descriptions and arguments are here expressed in language more than 

 usually obscure and ambiguous ; so that his readers are left to dis- 

 cover his views, &c, rather by guessing what he intended to say, than 

 by reading literally what he has written. We could wish much that 

 so good an observer would learn to express his observations more 

 clearly with the pen ; for his ' Mastership of Arts' most certainly does 

 not yet extend to any mastery in the art of writing clearly. In order 

 to show that our own stricture upon his pen is simply critical, and 

 not (as sometimes alleged) hyper-critical, we will tax the patience of 

 our Phytological readers by citing a short passage in illustration, but 

 selecting one which will at the same time convey some botanical in- 

 formation, if or when understood. After stating the points of distinc- 

 tion between Sagina maritima, and the other two species above men- 

 tioned, Mr. Babington adds that, — 



" There is another plant usually called S. maritima, in England, 

 which is the S. debilis of Jordan, and the S. maritima of Grenier, 

 which may very probably be a maritime state of S. apetala, but differs 



