1863.] REVIEWS. 



561 



showing the colours referred to. We may remark, en passant, 

 that the Centaurea has been found there with white flowers, on 

 Kiugcraig Point, west of Elie ; it grows in profusion, with re- 

 duced shades of colour to that of white. Seeds of pure white 

 flowers, when sown, produced plants with white flowers, while 

 several plants flowered in the dark colour. 



Manuscript Magazine of the Glasgow Naturalists' Society. 



This volume (the fourth), and the first for 1863, is, as usual, a 

 goodly-sized hook of 460 octavo pages. Its contents are varied, 

 instructive, and pleasing. 



There are in the present number about forty distiixct articles 

 on the general subject of natural history, geology, botany, and 

 zoology. A very considerable portion of the magazine is de- 

 voted to the service of the floral deity ; and for the gratification 

 and information of her devotees, there are at least a dozen con- 

 tributions, both in prose and verse, on the subject of botany. 



In memoriam is a genuine offering of sympathy to Mr. Small, 

 the late editor of the magazine, who, like " many a flower" in 

 these days, was not " born to blush unseen, and waste its sweet- 

 ness on the desert air." There is this consolation for us, the 

 children of mortality, that though " in the morning we grow up 

 as flowers, and in the evening are cut down and withered," stiU 

 the memory of the amiable and worthy is embalmed in the re- 

 collections of friends and associates. It is not the mode in our 

 prudish times to relate how our relatives died in the odour of 

 sanctity, but a good name is better than precious ointment, than 

 the most exquisite perfume. 



Ex AuRELiA is another tribute of affection, a memorial to 

 the same true naturalist; requiescat in pace is all that can be 

 said about this last-named effusion. Poets alone can deal with 

 poetical effusions, and our vocation and capabilities are of too 

 humble an order to justify us in criticizing the divine gifts of 

 poetry. 



Such articles as a Tour to Apple Cross, a Flora of Cumbrae, 

 Excursion Notes, are better suited to our simple tastes and 

 lowly aspirations. 



N. S. VOL. VI. 4 c 



