478 Retrospective Criticism. 



The Catalogue of the Birmingham Botanic Garden, p. 413. — In your Gar- 

 dener's Magazine for this month (p. 413.), I find some observations on the 

 first part of* the catalogue of the trees and shrubs which are growing in the 

 Birmingham Botanic Garden, and for the imperfections and inaccuracies in 

 which I am alone responsible. My reason for troubling you with this letter 

 is, to correct an error into which you have fallen. You say that you presume it 

 was printed in 1838, and subsequently to your Arboretum: that is not the fact. 

 It was printed in 1834, five years ago; and I am, and then was, aware that it 

 contained errors, but that was unavoidable, under the circumstances in which 

 it was written. Your Arboretum was not then published, and the only author- 

 ity I then had to refer to was De Candolle's Prodromus, and the last edition 

 of Loddiges's Catalogue, which latter, I was informed, was considered pretty 

 accurate. I therefore took many on the authority of that Catalogue, where I 

 could not have a sufficient specimen to satisfy myself; and I did not dispute 

 the authority of De Candolle. 



It must be evident to you, that, for Triacanthos, honey locust could not be 

 the translation, but that the three-spined, or perhaps more correctly, three- 

 thorned, was accidentally omitted. As regards your expression, " generally 

 literally translated," I think you will find no publication in which the trans- 

 lation is less erroneous, and, when errors do occur, they are evidently typo- 

 graphical, and not a translation : as, for instance, in Crataegus, C. indentata is 

 given spiniest. Now, it must be evident that could never have been intended 

 for a translation, even by the merest tyro ; and also in i?6sa, R. Dahurica is 

 translated Dahurica instead of Dahurian ; and one or two other similar mis- 

 takes, which arose in consequence of my absence from Birmingham at the 

 period of the printing of that part. I shall take an early opportunity of ex- 

 amining this part of the catalogue with your Arboretum, and correcting the 

 mistakes into which I have fallen. In conclusion, I thank you for the favour- 

 able manner in which you have expressed yourself. — Fred. Westcott. 3. 

 New Bridge Street, Birmingham, July 4. 1839. 



The error which we fell into arose, as we have stated (p. 413.), from there 

 being no date to the preface or titlepage, or, in fact, to any part of the cata- 

 logue ; a very injudicious practice in any author or publisher, and one that is 

 always looked on with suspicion by authors, publishers, and more especially 

 by critics. In the case of the Birmingham Catalogue, the omission of the date 

 was, we have no doubt, purely accidental ; for we do not for a moment sup- 

 pose that Mr. Westcott would omit the date on principle. With respect to 

 the literal translation of the specific names, Mr. Westcott seems to have mis- 

 understood our remarks. When we say "the specific names are literally 

 translated, though not always, as in the case of Gleditsehz'a triacanthos, which 

 is made the honey locust," we neither intended to praise, nor blame, but 

 merely to state the fact; for, not being able to conceive how the substitution 

 of honey locust for three-thorned could be an error of the press, we concluded 

 that the specific names were not translated literally on principle, as in the 

 Hortus Britannicus. We are glad to find that Mr. Westcott approves of this 

 practice, first adopted by ourselves, as a principle, in the Hortus Britannicus, 

 but neglected, or only occasionally practised, in most of the botanical periodi- 

 cals of the day. — Cond. 



Native Countries and native Habitats of Plants. — In reading the Gar- 

 dener's Magazine for December, 1838, vol. xiv., at p. 552., I have noticed 

 your verv just remarks regarding the want of a catalogue (or map, 

 rather) containing " the entire range of the plants, both geographical and 

 physical ; and the elevation in feet, and the latitude in degrees," &c, in which 

 each particular species of plant grows. I hope you will excuse the liberty I 

 have taken in pointing out a work that I have accidentally seen, in which you 

 will find a map, and other information on this subject, that I should think, 

 through the means of the Gardener's Magazine, would be made known to, 

 and much appreciated by, young gardeners. I allude to a work on " Phy- 

 sical Geography," from the seventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 



