324 BiblioyrapJdcal Notices. 



imbedded in the plates of tlie test, and have in some measure 

 injured the surface. 



We dedicate this species to M. INIichelin of Paris, the distin- 

 guished author of the ' Iconographie Zoophytologique/ as a 

 tribute of gratitude for the valuable collection of Echinodcrms 

 he liberally and generously sent us from his unrivalled cabinet, 

 to facilitate our studies of these beautiful forms of ancient life. 



Nucleolites scutatus, Lamarck. 



Since the publication of our memoir on the Cassidulid^ of 

 the Oolites *, we have received from Professor Deslongchamps 

 and M. Tesson a series of type specimens of Nucleolites scutatus 

 from the Coral Rag of Trouville, Calvados, which we have com- 

 pared with Nucleolites dimidiatus, Phillips, described in that me- 

 moir ; from this comparison it is certain, that our Wiltshire and 

 the Yorkshire Nucleolite, figured by Professor Phillips as N. dimi- 

 diatus, is the true N. scutatus of Lamarck. This circumstance 

 affords another example of the great importance of comparing 

 all our British Oolitic fossils with those collected from the 

 Jurassic strata of the continent of Europe, before assigning them 

 a position in our catalogues of species. 



[To be continued.] 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Botanical Letters to a Friend. By Dr. F. Ungeu. Translated 

 by Dr. Paul. London : Highley, 1853. 



The philosophical botanist, he who regards the vegetable creation 

 as one great group of the collective representatives of the fruit of 

 life, who gathers up plants from far and near, to trace the laws of 

 morphology through the kaleidoscopic multiformity of shapes, to fol- 

 low the mystery of organization through its progressive stages, or to 

 sift the complex ingredients of the history of the diffusion of vege- 

 tation over our globe, — he to whom the word Botany expresses the 

 existence of such fields of inquiry as these, is often exposed to an 

 ordeal such as his brethren labouring in physical science now happily 

 recall as among the traditions of the past. That is to say, while the 

 astronomer, the physicist, and the chemist appear to the outer world 

 armed with mysterious powers, before which the soothsayers and 

 magicians of former ages would ' pale their ineffectual fires,' the bo- 

 tanist, running abreast of his science in these days, is a being alto- 

 gether removed from the cognizance of the many ; and dreads to 

 hear an allusion to his pursuits, in general society, well knowing that 

 it will be the text to a disquisition on the " beautiful wild flowers 

 that grow in such and such a place," a recommendation to visit such 



* Annals of Natural Histor\-, vol. ix. 



