156 Bibliographical Notice. 



of any scientific arrangement of the plates, which was impossible 

 under the plan of publication necessarily adopted, renders the refer- 

 ence to them inconvenient. A second edition was commenced in 

 1830, and carried on for many years to completion. In it Smith's 

 part is left out, and new letterpress, of no very high order of merit, 

 is given. The plates were, we believe, untouched, and are therefore 

 a mere reissue of the original set, but arranged according to the 

 Linnaean system, and coloured in a less finished manner. Imperfect 

 as it was, this seems to have been a successful undertaking, as it is 

 now apparently nearly, if not quite, out of print. It is therefore 

 with much satisfaction that we see something more than a reissue of 

 this national work successfully commenced. 



In the present edition, which is arranged according to the natural 

 orders, the original plates have been carefully examined by Mr. Syme, 

 the author of the descriptive part, altered in many cases, in accord- 

 ance with his directions, by Mr. J. E. Sowerby, transferred to stone, 

 and printed from thence. In general, this is done in a satisfactory 

 manner ; but we fear that the artist has not always fully carried out 

 Mr. Syme's intentions ; and the colouring is certainly fiar inferior to 

 that of the original work in many cases. It is manifest that the 

 mantle of James Sowerby has not fully fallen upon his grandson. 

 We have spoken of the author of the text, and are justified in doing 

 so when referring solely to the scientific portion of the work ; but, 

 in fact, there are two authors, and two quite distinct parts of the 

 book. Mr, J, T. B. Syme writes the scientific part and superintends 

 the revision of the plates; and Mrs. Lankester adds "popular de- 

 scriptions," for which she is solely responsible. 



We do not purpose to enter upon a minutely critical examination 

 of either of these three parts, but will make a few remarks upon 

 each of them. To begin with the plates : — Plate 23 professes to illus- 

 trate Ranunculus confusus (Godr.) ; but we very much doubt its 

 correctness. Neither the leaves nor the head of carpels are those of 

 R. confusus, but rather belong to R. Baudotii. If this is the only 

 R. confusus known to the editor, we can account for his joining that 

 plant to R. Baudotii. Plate 30 represents the true R. reptans 

 (Linn.), and is the first figure of that plant which has appeared in 

 this country, except the vignette on the title-page of Lightfoot's 

 * Flora Scotica,' published in 17/6. Mr. Syme does not seem to 

 have found the plant in any place except the shore of Loch Leven, 

 near Kinross — the very spot from whence Sibthorp obtained it. 

 Most British botanists have mistaken the creeping form of R. Flam- 

 mula for this much rarer plant. Plate 72 (Fumaria Borcei) retains 

 nearly all the faults (and they are many) of the original plate. We 

 think it a very poor representation of the plant. The new plate 

 of F. pallidiflora is very far superior ; that also of F. muralis is 

 deserving of praise ; but on neither of them is the lower part of the 

 fruit well shown. The artist has mistaken the fleshy mass form- 

 ing the base of the somewhat drupaceous fruit for a carpophore : 

 no such marked separation between that base and the rest of the 

 fruit exists in nature ; it is altogether an invention of the artist. 



