314 Revieiv of Grai/s Botany. 



6cc. (fcc, till, through the succession of about twenty yearS; 

 the list of such works has swelled to no small amount. 

 Many of these have been sectional in their character, and, 

 while doubtless representing the botany of their respective 

 regions, would serve little purpose beyond it. Some were of 

 the briefest description in delineating the species or in defin- 

 ing a genus; others, mere translations of original descriptions 

 from the scientific latinity of the discoverer; and others, 

 apparently, copied from larger works without so much as 

 the suspicion of ever having seen or known the plant intend- 

 ed to be specified. Nor did it require a very devoted searcher 

 after plants, to meet with species, in the range of a district 

 at no very great distance from the place of publication of the 

 manual itself, which could not be found in its pages ; so that 

 it became necessary to possess a library of every such trea- 

 tise, which appeared, from time to time, to satisfy the desire 

 for information, which was constantly arising. 



The idea is by no means uncommon, and which has sug- 

 gested itself to every tyro, and to those unacquainted with 

 the subject, that there is small chance to find new species of 

 plants in regions so long known and herborized over, as are 

 most parts of this country. Yet one hardly knows what are 

 the treasures of a region, which has been long under his own 

 inspection ; and, while he is ordinarily diligent, some one 

 more fortunate or more persevering than himself, or his pre- 

 decessors, brings to light some rarity, or strange form, which 

 had previously escaped other eyes. The actual and precise 

 knowledge of older and familiar forms, and their identity 

 with, or difi"erence from, the types indicated by the names 

 they bear in common, can only be acquired by the compari- 

 son of original specimens, or with well authenticated ones. 

 These and similar facts point out the absolute necessity of 

 the appearance of such works as the one now before us. 

 And the increasing interest in botanical studies demands 

 books of unquestioned authority and the latest modes of 

 classification, nomenclature, description. We have been 

 pleased, therefore, to find the present work emanating from 

 such a source, and enlarged in its materials, matter, and sub- 

 jects ; and, while made as succinct as possible, yet conveying 

 the most needed information. We cannot but think that it 

 will prove the best, as it is the latest, form of a popular de- 



