340 Harvey's Genera of South African Plants, 



F. rivularis, F. indigesta, F. Psendoeskia, F. elegans, F. granattnsis, were 

 found on the higher parts of Sierra Nevada, to 9a00 ft. ; and some others 

 of the respective genera at lower elevations. Aspidium nevadense was 

 found on the rocks of the Sierra Nevada, at 8000 ft. 



We have now to mention the strangest fact of all we find in this little work. 

 Out of the number of new species enumerated, four are found*: where ? reader, 

 can you credit ? on the rock of Gibraltar ! A spot a league in extent, which lias 

 been nearly a century and a half in our possession, and the botany never 

 examined ! It is absolutely a national disgrace that such a fact should trans- 

 pire. We might apply to our successive governments a parody on the famous 

 dictum of Oxenstiern : " Nescis, fili mi,quam parva scientia regitur mundus." 



We have remarked on another occasion, the little use Gibraltar was made 

 of, but as a fortress and smuggling depot. The fact is, the whole country 

 which this Swiss gentleman has so much to his credit examined, might and 

 ought to have been explored years since from Gibraltar, where there is every 

 facility of making excursions ; the Spanish government would always give 

 assistance, and the individuals are very much disposed to do every thing 

 in their power. This tour has been made during the civil war, and the 

 worst period. We earnestly hope that from Gibraltar some means may be 

 taken to obtain the Q. alpestris, which we should beg to call rondensis, the 

 Crataegus, ^'cer, Lonicerae, Adenocarpus, &c. ; all which may be obtained at 

 the proper season with the greatest facility. — S. E. C. 



Art. III. The Genera of South African Plants, arranged according 

 to the Natural System. By Wm. Henry Harvey, Esq. 8vo, pp.429. 

 Cape Town, 1838. 



For a sight of this volume we are indebted to our friend W. Christy, junior, 

 Esq. It comprises a brief, but comprehensive, Introduction to Botany ; a 

 Glossary of Botanical terms used in the work ; a Synopsis of a Flora Capensis, 

 according to the Linnean System ; and what occupies by far the greater part 

 of the volume, an Arrangement of the Genera of South African Plants accord- 

 ing to the Natural Method, as modified by Dr. Walker Arnott, in the seventh 

 edition of the Enci/clopcedia Brilannica now in course of publication. 



In his Preface, the author informs us, that, being often requested by the 

 admirers of flowers to recommend some introductory work on Botany, after 

 various schemes had passed through his mind, it at last struck him, that a 

 short Introduction, joined to a Flora Capensis, would best satisfy the wants of 

 the colony. 



" And it struck me also," he observes, " that by publishing now, thus show- 

 ing that I was in earnest in my wish to undertake a Flora Capensis, it might be 

 the means of introducing me to many persons interested in botany, and living 

 in remote districts of the country, who might, perhaps, be willing to unite 

 with me in amassing materials from which a future flora should proceed. That 

 there are many such I am willing to believe : for it is hardly possible that 

 a well educated person can have continually under his eye so many and 

 such beautiful flowers as are scattered all over the country, without occasion- 

 ally feeling an admiration of their structure, and a desire to learn some- 

 thing of their affinities and properties. A little sympathy and encouragement 

 are often all that are wanting to make botanists of these. Intercourse by 

 letter, and interchanges of specimens, foster the incipient taste, till it takes 

 root downward, and bears fruit upward." (Pref. p. vi.) 



" But I fear that many who might, from their position, materially assist 

 the progress of botanical science, by making observations on, and collections 

 of, the plants of their neighbourhoods, lie under the erroneous supposition 

 that, because they have little or no knowledge of systematic botan}', they 

 are incapable of making collections or observations that can be useful to a 



* A Silene, a .Srassica, a Cerastium, and a Thymus. 



