1858.] REVIEWS. 323 



description of each Order ; the clear, full, and intelligible cha- 

 racters of each genus and species, attaching to the latter addi- 

 tional information as to the area and counties in which it is 

 found, as also the altitude to which it extends, and the appro- 

 priate temperature, with the frequent interspersion of interesting 

 remarks. 



Doubtless the work will be completed at no distant period, in 

 a similar satisfactory form, with the addition (the author says) 

 of a glossarial and etymological index. 



It ought to be mentioned, in conclusion, that the work is pub- 

 lished at a price unusually low (160 pages, crown octavo, with 

 numerous cuts, for 1*. 6d.), and one which can scarcely com- 

 pensate for the time and labour which must have been bestowed 

 upon it. It may be hoped however that it will command that 

 general circidation amongst botanists and others, to which its 

 merits so well entitle it. J. W. 



The Grasses of Great Britain. By J. E. Sowerby. 

 Parts II. and III. 



The illustrations of this work have been already commended 

 as among the most accurate and elaborately finished productions 

 of the botanical draughtsman and engraver. 



Part II. contains five plates, viz. Alopecurus (four species), and 

 Phalaris (one species) . 



Part III. contains a plate of Phalaris arundinacea, one of 

 Ammophila arundinacea, and three species of Phleum. 



The area of Phalaris paradox a can now be considerably en- 

 larged in England. It is not confined to Swanage, in Dorset- 

 shire, but has for years taken possession of a part of the Thames 

 valley, or basin, as geologists term it (it is more like a trough 

 than a basin), which part of the valley, or basin, promises to be 

 as celebrated in future ages as the ballast hills of Sunderland 

 were in the first quarter of this century. We agree with the 

 author of the descriptive letterpress portion of ' Sowerby's 

 Grasses,^ in his opinion that P. paradoxa is not a native grass 

 of Great Britain, in the sense of nativity, as generally under- 

 stood by British botanists. It may be a question more easy to 



