406 REVIEWS. [January, 



and he decidedly repudiates the assertion that such a fact has 

 ever been reported by him. 



Though the terms now employed to express the duration of 

 plants be not only indefinite, defective, and deceptive, a word is 

 wanted to signify that a given or assumed plant flowers only 

 once from the-same root. The term 'annual^ might be somewhat 

 amplified in signification, viz. inclusive of what are called annual 

 and biennial, and the latter should be discarded from descriptive 

 works. 



Cynoglossum sylvaticum, var. C. montanum, or medium, or virens, 

 or vir^ginicum, or germanicum, ape?ininum, or officinale /8, is nei- 

 ther annual nor biennial, but has a duration as extensive and in- 

 definite as Symphytum tuberosum, though it does not increase so 

 fast by radical buds, shoots, etc. 



On pp. 53-58 there is an elaborate article on the various spe- 

 cies or varieties, or on both, of the genus Lappa, which is here 

 commended to the notice of the inquisitive; and a few questions 

 are propounded about the terra type, which is now so commonly 

 met with in descriptive scientific Vi'orks. 



To help our readers to understand the drift of the question or 

 questions which* follow, let them assume that the typical forms 

 of roots are fibrous, of steais cylindrical, of leaves ^a/, of flowers 

 circular. Of these typical forms there are several modifications ; 

 for example, some roots are fleshy and fibrous, some stems angu- 

 lar, some leaves cylindrical, some flowers cruciform, triangular, 

 etc. Is the type of the entire vegetable creation, or of its indivi- 

 dual organs, to be found amongst the simplest, or among the 

 most complex forms? What is the type of a Class or of an 

 Order ? Is it to be found in the simplest Order or genus, or in 

 the most complex ? Is it a plant or an idea — a thing or an 

 abstract notion ? 



What species is the type of a genus ? What individual plant 

 is par excellence assumed to be the type of a species ? 



Do authors know what they mean by type ? If they do, it 

 would be Avorth their while to enlighten their less learned bre- 

 thren, who may wish to be their humble tractable disciples. 



On what principles do authors decide or assert that a certain 

 form, say, for example, Lappa minor or L. intermedia, is a spe- 

 cies, and L. pubens a variety ? How is the typical character of 

 L. minor ascertained ? Are there no typical forms among the 

 group called L. pubens ? What merit has the former to entitle 



