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as if a communication of ideas had passed between us ; but, after allowing liim due 

 credit for his labours, I must still continue to differ from him in a number of impor- 

 tant points; yet in order to avoid adding synonymous generic names, I have revised 

 my original ones, and in all cases, where Presl's character of his genera are conform- 

 able to my view, I have adopted his names.' " 



In the following remarks we shall confine ourselves as much as 

 possible lo the plain factfi of the case, without in general attempting 

 any explanation of the review^er's opinions. We will also endeavour 

 to follow the order of the editor's strictures. 



First, then, with regard to the "little compliment" said to be made 

 the subject of the reviewer's censure. We do not clearly perceive in 

 what way the simple statement of a fact can be construed into cen- 

 sure. That the payment of this " /////e compliment" has been in 

 some degree censured in preceding pages of ' The Phytologist,' we 

 are willing to admit ; but in the passage alluded to we must confess 

 ourselves unable to discover the censure complained of. When the 

 5th edition of the 'British Flora,' was announced, the botanists of this 

 country naturally looked forward to its appearance with a hope that 

 the author would gladly embrace the favourable opportunity of rais- 

 ing the Botany of Britain to something like a level with the state of 

 the science on the continent. This, the author of the 'British Flora,' 

 from his eminent attainments in the science, his almost unequalled 

 store of materials, and his exalted station, was certainly well qualified 

 to accomplish, and was no more than the botanists of Britain had a 

 right to expect fi-om him. His labour, too, would have been rendered 

 less onerous, from the publication of the ' Edinburgh Catalogue of 

 British Plants,' " in which especial pains had been taken," not only 

 " to form a complete list of the native flowering plants and ferns of 

 Great Britain," but also (and this surely is a point of equal impor- 

 tance), " as far as possible to make the nomenclature of British plants 

 correspond with that adopted by the best continental authors." And 

 in endeavouring to effect this object, the compilers of the Catalogue 

 were " guided in their amendments chiefly by the works of DeCan- 

 dolle, Koch, Nees von Eseubeck, Kunth and Leighton." However, 

 when the 5th edition of the ' British Flora ' appeared, great was the 

 disappointment of our botanists to find that very little more had been 

 done in its preparation, than to prefix a Linnaean index or key, to 

 adopt the natural arrangement for the body of the work, in place of 

 that of the Linnaean artificial system which had been used in the pre- 

 ceding editions, and to add a few explanatory plates at the end : 



4 R 



