head a 
174 Bibliography. 
yellow fever in New York, where he died at the age of 28 years. 
Benjamin Delessert, who had accompanied his brother in his travels 
through France, Switzerland.and Great Britain, gathering for himself 
the interesting plants he met with, now united these different collections, 
which thus served as the basis of what is now one of the largest botani- 
cal cabinets of the world. The actual number of plants it now contains, 
is estimated by Laségue at 86,000 species, represented by 250,000 
specimens. But this is a much larger proportion of the known species 
of plants than we should suppose it possible for any single collection to 
possess. Many particulars of high interest to botanical readers, are 
embraced in the history of the different herbaria which have from time 
to time been added to this museum; such as those of Commerson, the 
naturalist of Bougainville’s voyage round the world; of Billardiére, the 
two Burmanns, the Japanese herbarium of Thunberg, that of Ventenat, 
of Palisot de Beauvois, and nearly all the leading botanists and scien- 
tific travellers of recent times.* The notices of other principal Euro- 
pean herbaria, comprised in the second part of the volume, also abound 
in interest; though in respect to many of them the author’s information 
is insufficient. Avs Gare 
4. De Candolle’s Prodromus, Vol. 9.—A year ago we had the 
pleasure to notice the 8th volume of this indispensable work, the first 
of the series under the editorship of Prof. Alphonse De Candolle. The 
ninth volume, now before us, was issued on the first of January last ; 
and the forthcoming portions are in course of preparation under such 
favorable circumstances that we may now confidently look for the ap- 
pearance of a volume a year, and for the full completion of this Species 
Plantarum, according to the natural system, at no very distant period. 
We have already mentioned the arrangements that are made to secure 
this desirable consummation, and by which the work becomes as it 
were a series of separate monographs, prepared by the most skillful 
hands, under the superintendence of a common editor. Every botan- 
ist is aware of the improvement of the successive volumes as they ap- 
peared from the unrivalled hands of the elder De Candolle ; and a fur- 
ther improvement is manifest in the later portions, elaborated or re- 
vised by his son, especially in the introduction of characters drawn 
from estivation, placentation, the structure of the ovule, and other points 
which have only quite recently been turned to special account by sys- 
* We should not omit to mention an interesting little collection of plants, a sou- 
venir, bequeathed by De Candolle in the following clause of his will: ‘Je prie 
mon fils de choisir dans mon herbier cents plantes que j’ai decrites Je premier, et 
de les addresser de ma part 4 mon bon et ancien ami Benjamin Delessert, comme 
temoignage de mes sentiments pour lui et pour sa famille.” 
