ITO Miscellanies, 



ries. Of the eight thousand seven hundred species given hy DeCan* 

 dolle, more than three thousand are described for the first time in this 

 work. In the g-eneral disposition of the order, the clear and simple 

 classification of Lessing is to a great degree adopted. It is first divi- 

 ded into three great series, viz. 



1. TuBTJLiFLORvE ; those with the perfect flowers tubular and regu- 

 larly 5- (or rarely 4-) toothed. 



2. Labiatiflor^; those with bilabiate, or 2-eleft, perfect flowers. 



3. LiGULiFLORiE ; which have all the flowers strap-shaped. 



The first series includes about four fifths of the whole family, which 

 are arranged in five tribes, vis. VerTioniacecE, Eupatoriacece, Astero- 

 idecB, SenecionidecB, and CynarecB. The second series consists exclu- 

 sively of the Mutisiaccce and the NdssauviacecB, chiefly South Amer- 

 ican plants ; a single species of Chaptalia is, we believe, the only 

 North American representative. The third series, comprising the 

 CichoracecB, so readily known by their milky juice, and by having all 

 their florets ligulate, contains many North American representatives. 



So many orders or separate genera of Monopetalous plants have 

 been the subjects of recent monographs, and much valuable assistance 

 is also engaged for the ensuing portions of the Prodromus, that seve- 

 ral volumes may be expected at no very distant period. It may no| 

 be improper to state that Mr. Boissier of Geneva is engaged in the 

 preparation of the Plumbaginece ; Mr. Duby of Geneva will prepare 

 the PrimulacecB ; Prof. Dunal of Montpelier, the SolaHecc ; Mr. De 

 Caisne of Paris, the Asclepiadem ; and Mr. Bentham, the Scroplmla- 

 Tinece, and Labiates^ 



2. Endlicher, Genera Plantarum secundum Qrdines Naturales 

 disposita, (Vienna, 1836 — 1840). — This is one of the most important 

 works of the age ; and we are anxious to make it more generally 

 known to the botanists of this country. It is not too much to say, 

 that without this, and Lindley's Introduction to the Natural System, 

 (or some equivalent work,) no person who does not possess the ad- 

 vantage of a large library and an extensive general collection of 

 plants, can obtain any correct idea of the present state of systematic 

 botany. The work is published in parts, of eighty pages each, in an 

 imperial octavo or a kind of oblong quarto form, closely printed in 

 double columns. The eleventh fasciculus, which is the last we have 

 received, reaches to the eight hundred and eightieth page ; but proba- 

 bly two or more additional numbers have by this time appeared. It 

 is stated in the original announcement that the work will not exceed 

 ten or twelve numbers ; we imagine, however, that four or five addi- 

 tional numbers will be required for its completion. It commences, 



