REVIEWS. 387 
noticed in our pages several months ago, we had some hesitation 
to obtrude it again on the notice of our readers. Circumstances 
have however arisen which have induced us to depart from the 
customary usage followed in such cases. The eminent pictorial 
abilities of Mr. Sowerby, his ancestors, and of all the collateral 
branches of his family, so celebrated in English natural history, 
are matters of public notoriety and history. Our commendation 
would savour too much of the common adage, of carrying coals 
to Newcastle, to be of any use to him. We just repeat what has 
been already stated (see ‘ Phytologist’ for June, 1855), that the 
work above mentioned contains most characteristic and beau- 
tiful representations of all the species of British Ferns (49), with 
83 pages of letterpress by the learned Professor of Botany at 
Guy’s Hospital, and all at a price which apparently might set 
competition at defiance. But when the recognized merits of the 
author and illustrator are considered, we think it is utterly im- 
possible for any parties to produce a work on this subject which 
shall be equally valuable or useful as that which is the subject of 
this notice. We may regret that the rival publishers do not give 
us something on another branch of the general subject of natural 
history. Surely the entire field is not yet occupied; the ma- 
terials are not yet all exhausted. Even in the botanical depart- 
ment, are there no Orders that would afford scope, and payment 
too, for illustration and investigation? ‘The number of works 
exclusively limited to the British Ferns is probably not far short 
of a dozen. A new field of labour should be sought out, and 
we recommend the subject of Aquaria or Vivaria. This would 
afford our ingenious observers an opportunity of displaying their 
knowledge of the obscure and little-noticed forms of both vege- 
table and animal life. We conclude this notice of Mr. Sowerby’s 
cheapest work on Ferns, by recording it as our honest conviction 
that a cheaper book cannot be produced. The plates, which are 
from engravings on copper, are 49, and the letterpress 88 pages 
(five sheets and a half, demy octavo), all sold at six shillings; or 
three halfpence a plate, with letterpress to the bargain. 'The 
eminence of both author and illustrator are a sufficient guarantee 
that the purchaser will have a work on which he may rely, as 
one of acknowledged authority, and as a reliable reference in all 
cases of hesitation or difficulty. 
