688 Bibliographical Notices. 



In their skulls both P. punctatus and P. marica approach 

 tlie border-line of the g;enu3 towards the large species of 

 Sciuropterus (subgenus Hylopetes), which are not very readily 

 separable from them. Perhaps the best character to distin- 

 guish the two genera is the presence in Petaurista of a deep 

 slanting notch at the postero-internal angle of the upper 

 teeth, this being absent in Sciuropterus. But even this 

 character is less developed in the present annectant species 

 than in the other members of Petaurista. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Oxford Gardens. By R. T. Gunther, M.A., Fellow of ifagdalen 

 College. 8vo. Pp. xv, 280. Illustrated. Parker, Oxford. 

 1912. Price Qs. net. 



e 



This delightful little book is based upon Dr. Daubeny's popular 

 guide to the Physick Garden of Oxford, the reissue of which in a 

 revised and enlarged form " is due to the fact that neither the 

 guides written by Dr. Daubeny nor the Garden itself are as well 

 known in Oxford as they ought to be." The Oxford Botanic Garden 

 is the oldest in Great Britain, having been founded through the 

 generosity of Lord Danhy in 1621, nearly sixty years before the old 

 Physick Garden at Cliclsea. Robert Morison, the first professor, 

 was not appointed until 16G9, but from 1632 Jacob Bobart, the 

 elder, Avas in charge of this garden, and in 1648 published the first 

 catalogue of plants. His son, also Jacob Bobart, succeeded Morison 

 as professor on tho death of the latter in 1683. Later, the munifi- 

 cence of William Sherard secured the nomination of the celebrated 

 Dillenius (1734—1747) ; other famous botanists who have occupied 

 the Chair were John Sibthorp (1784-1795), best known by his 

 work on the flora of Greece, and Dr. Daubeny (1834-1867), who, 

 finding the garden in a most unsatisfactory state, lived to see it 

 " entirely rearranged, enriched with extensive houses, extended in 

 area, and made both attractive and beautilul." All this and much 

 more of historical interest the reader will find in Mr. Giinther's 

 Introduction, which is followed by an account of the Contents of 

 the Garden, not in the form of a mere catalogue, but in a series of 

 cliapters in which former arrangements are referred to, while 

 numerous observations, anecdotal and otherwise, are inserted. 

 Mr. Giinther refers to his work as a labour of love, and modestly 

 suggests that he is merely an amateur. AVe suspect, therefore, that 

 he does not fully realize the significance of his remark on American 

 nomenclature when he says, apropos of the Califurnian Big-tree 

 {Sequoia f/i</a)ifea) : " An American botanist has renamed this 

 genus Washinglouia : there is no end to the confusion introduced 



