274 REVIEWS. [November, 



The Grasses of Great Britain. Illustrated by John E. Sowerby ; 



described, with Observations on their Natural History and 



Uses, by Charles Johnson, Botanical Lecturer at Guy^s 



Hospital. 



By the prospectus we learn that " the work will contain about 

 140 plates, each representing a species, with magnified views of 

 its flowers, executed from drawings made expressly for this mo- 

 nograph;" also that it will "be completed in thirty monthly 

 parts, corresponding with the ' Ferns of Great Britain and their 

 Allies,^ with the plates full coloured, at 1*. per part." 



Part the First, which we have now the pleasure of announcing, 

 contains exquisitely engraved and coloured figures of Anthoxan- 

 thum odoratum, Nardus stricta, Leersia oryzoides, Alopecurus 

 pratensis, and A. alpina. The sample is of surpassing excellence, 

 and a marvel of cheapness, even in these days, when the prices 

 of books are reduced to the very extreme limits of cheap produc- 

 tion. If the succeeding parts equal the first in pictorial beauty 

 and strict accuracy, the work may and will occupy a distin- 

 guished place among the artistical scientific works of our age 

 and country. 



We give the following quotation as a sample of the style ; this 

 wiU speak for itself: — " Meadoiv Fox-tail Gi'ass, plate iv. . . . 

 One of the most common of our meadow Grasses. Its strong, 

 fibrous roots take a firm hold of the soil, but the plants have 

 little or no tendency to extend themselves laterally by creeping. 

 The flowering stems vary in height, according to the character 

 of the soil, from one to three feet, having tlie sheath of the 

 uppermost leaf usually much inflated. The ligule is very short 

 and obtuse. The spike or spicate panicle is of a light or yellow- 

 ish colour, with a tinge of grey, owing to the silvery hue of the 

 long awns ; it varies in length from one to three inches. An- 

 thers yellow. . . . 



'^ This Grass, as observed by Martyn, possesses the three great 

 requisites of quantity, quality, and earliness, in a superior degree 

 to any other ; in regard to quantity it has been affirmed to yield 

 more bulk and weight of hay than any other Grass hitherto sub- 

 jected to experiment, and as the first crop may be cut early, or 



