IN NORTH AMERICA. 33 



and authentic enumeration of the plants of those States which has 

 jet appeared. The arrangement is according to the latest and 

 most approved modification of the natural system, and, as a vad< 

 mecum for herborizers, the work is invaluable. 



3. The same accomplished and indefatigable author has also 

 issued, this year, an octavo volume, with one hundred plates, 

 entitled Genera Floras Americce Boreali-orientalis Illustrata. It 

 is the first of a contemplated series of ten volumes, designed to 

 illustrate, by figures and analyses, the genera of the plants of the 

 United States. This gigantic undertaking would be a desperate 

 one, in any other hands ; but if life and health be spared to him, 

 the volume before us is a sufficient guarantee that the author will 

 acquit himself of the task, in a manner as beneficial to botanical 

 science, as it will be honourable to himself, and to the literature of 

 his country. The illustrations in this work seem to leave nothing 

 unexplained, in the generic characters of the plants treated of, 

 which it is important to know. 



It is as surprising as it is gratifying, to contemplate the aids and 

 facilities now afforded to the students of American Botany, com- 

 pared with the sorry helps and stinted means at command, when 

 the writer of these desultory sketches first became a humble 

 aspirant to that description of knowledge. 



What, then, must have been the difficulties and discouragements 

 attending the pursuit, when John Bartram and Humphry Mar- 

 shall began to explore the vegetable treasures of this vast and 

 varied continent ! How kindly should we cherish the memory of 

 the men who thus early and zealously toiled for our instruction and 

 gratification ! If the example of those venerable pioneers in the 

 walks of natural science, as illustrated in this volume, shall exert 

 a salutary influence upon their successors of the present, or of 

 future times, the editor will be happy in the hope, tluA what with 

 him has been a labour of love, has not also been a labour in vain. 



W. D. 



States, was contributed by John Carey, Esq., of which some copies were distri- 

 buted separately, affording a convenient synopsis of that extensive genus. The 

 value of Mr. Caret's performance may be inferred from its position in the 

 "Manual." 



3 



