Bibliography. 391 



Art. XIV. — Bihliographical Notices. 



1. PlcmtcB JavaniccB Rariores, descriptcB iconihusque illusiratce, quas 

 in Insula Java, annis 1802-1818, legit et investigavit Thomas Horse- 

 field, M. D. : e siccis descriptiones ct characteres plurimarum elabora- 

 rzMoANNES I. Bennett; ohservationes structuarum et affinitates prceser- 

 tim respicientes passim adjecil Robertus Brown. London, fol. Part I, 

 1838; pp. 104, tab. 1-25.— Part II, 1840; pp. 90, tab. 26-40. This 

 work is filled with profound observations upon various points in systematic 

 and structural botany, by Mr. Brown, and his worthy associate, Mr. Ben- 

 nett, (the present secretary of the Linnsean society,) who has elaborated 

 the greater portion of the work. In a note annexed to his revision of the 

 CyrtandrecE, which occupies a portion of. the second part, Mr. Brown has 

 contributed a series of condensed, but most important remarks upon the 

 structure of the ovarium, placentae, and stigmata; and has also expressed 

 his dissent from a recent theory respecting the origin of ovula, (advocated 

 by Schleiden, Endlicher, Lindley, &c.) viz. that the ovula do not belong 

 to tlie transformed leaf or carpel itself, (except, perhaps, in a few cases,) 

 but are borne on the axis, or on processes of the axis united with the car- 

 pels ; a view which the analogy of ovula with buds would readily sug- 

 gest. Mr. Brown defends the prevalent theory, in the following brief re- 

 marks. " That the placentae and ovula really belong to the carpel alone, 

 is at least manifest in all cases where stamina are changed into pistilla. 

 To such monstro.sities I have long since referred in my earliest observa- 

 tions on the type of the female organ in phenogamous plants, (in Linn. 

 Sot: Trans, vol. 12, p. 89,) and since more particularly in my paper on 

 Ra_flesia : (ibid, vol. 13, p. 212,) the most remarkable instances alluded 

 to in illustration of this point being Sempcrvivum tectorum, Salix oleifolia, 

 and Cochlearia armoracia; in all of which every gradation between the 

 perfect state of the anthera, and its transformation into a complete pistil= 

 lum, is occasionally found." The third and concluding part of the work 

 is said to be in progress. 



2. Hooker's Icones Plantarum : Part VII. In former numbers of 

 this Journal we have already directed the attention of American botanists 

 to this excellent work, and mentioned the plan upon which it is con- 

 ducted. The seventh part, containing 50 plates, (viz. tab. 301 to 350,) 

 includes perhaps fewer North American species than usual. Among 

 them, however, are figures of our three species of the singular genus 

 Cercocarpus ; and also of five Californian Compositae, viz : Actinolepis 

 multicaulis, DC, Madaraglossa hcterotricha, DC, Hartmannia? pun- 

 gens. Hook. &1, Arn., Monolopia minor, DC, and M. major, DC. Plate 

 323 represents a species of the genus Garrya, from the mountains 

 of Jamaica ! " The very remarkable genus to which this plant belongs, 



