1044 



these, on very inadequate specimens. For, were they to pause in 

 their labours until better ones turned up, they would find the longest 

 life greatly too short for the completion of even a small portion of 

 their task. Much of their work must of necessity be of a provisional 

 character; so much so, that there are (ew possessors of good collec- 

 tions who do not find themselves in circumstances to furnish both 

 addenda and errata to our most valuable works on Palaeontology. 

 And it is only by the free communication of these addenda and 

 errata that geologists will at length be enabled adequately to conceive 

 of the by-past creations, — of, in especial, the Faunas of the palaeozoic 

 and secondary periods, and of that gorgeous Flora of the carboniferous 

 age, with some of whose organisms Mr. M. had been attempting to 

 deal, and which seems to have been by far the most luxuriant and 

 wonderful which our emphatically ancient earth ever saw. 



Notices of New Books, Sfc. 



* The Annals and Magazine 0/ Natural History,^ No. 66, June, 1853. 



This number contains the following botanical papers : — 



'Remarks upon British Plants; by Charles C. Babington, M.A., 

 F.R.S., F.L.S., &c.' 



' On the Genera of the Tribe Duboiseae ; by John Miers, Esq., 

 F.R.S., F.Li.S. 



' Observations on Relative Position ; including a new Arrangement 

 of Phanerogamous Plants ; by B. Clarke, F.L.S., &c.' 



' Researches on the Fecundation and Formation of the Embryo iu 

 Hepaticae and Ferns ; by H. Philibert. Extracted from the ' Comptes 

 Rendus,' Dec. 13, 1852, p. 851. 



Mr. Babington's paper is continued from the previous number, and 

 exhibits the same care and research as before. The genera treated of 

 are Myosotis and Thymus ; and the observations on these are so fully 

 reported in the last number (Phytol. iv. 984), that an abstract would 

 be almost tautological. 



