Miscellanies. 173 



already cited is ninety-nine, of which eighty-nine are published. The 

 plants collected in Capt. Beechey's voyage at Kotzebue Soinid and 

 California, (the only places in North America where collections were 

 made,) were noticed in an early part of the volume ; but in a supple- 

 ment, which nearly occupies the seventh, eighth, and ninth parts, the 

 Californian collection of the late Mr. Douglas is described, with the 

 addition of a smaller collection made in what is called the ' Snake 

 Country,'' which name is given to the prairie region between Califor- 

 nia and the Rocky Mountains, through which Snake River, or Lewis 

 River, holds its course. Among the plates given in the present fas- 

 ciculus, the most interesting are that of Nuttallia cerasiformis, Torr. 

 Gr. (a very remarkable Rosaceous plant,) Calycanihus occidenta- 

 lis. Hook. Arn,, and Lewisia rediviva, Pursh, which singular plant 

 is at last fully described and illustrated. It was brought to the 

 United States by Capt. Lewis many years ago ; it is so tenacious of 

 life, that the roots brought by him to Philadelphia, without care, be- 

 ing intended only as specimens, vegetated and grew freely when placed 

 in the earth, and the same thing took place with specimens sent to 

 London by Douglas ; it appears to abound on all the upper branches 

 of the Oregon, where the roots are an important article of food with 

 the Indians ; yet it is only very recently that sufficient specimens have 

 been obtained to complete the very imperfect account of the plant 

 given by Pursh. This had however been done in part by Mr. Nut- 

 tall, from a specimen brought by Mr. Wyeth, from which a figure was 

 made for the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia. 



5. TJie Genera of South African Plants, arranged according to 

 the Natural Sy stein ; hy Wm. Henry Harvey, Esq. (Ca.pe-Toivn, 

 1838. pp. 429, 8vo.) — This volume was written, printed in very 

 handsome style, and published, at the Cape of Good Hope. It was 

 prepared, not, as we might suppose, for the purpose of making Cape 

 plants better known to European botanists, but for the use of the 

 students and lovers of flowers at the Cape ! It is arranged, more- 

 over, according to the Natural System, and is throughout a work of 

 genuine science. Truly, if popular botanical works, based on the 

 Natural System, are deemed most advantageous for students at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, we may indulge the expectation that this method 

 will in due time be universally adopted in Europe and the United 

 States. Mr. Harvey, who while occupied with his duties as Colonial 

 Secretary, has been enabled to do so much for the botany of that rich 

 and interesting region, both by his own researches and by encouraging 

 the labors of others, was requested to recommend some introductory 



