from June 28. to August 16, 1840. 393 



generations, as appears by an article in the Annates de la So- 

 ciete de Horticulture de Paris for 1838, p. 355. The garden 

 was originally in the Champs-Elysees, and was celebrated there 

 for its tulips and hyacinths about the middle of the last century. 

 The ancestor of M. Tripet, like the great-grandfather of M. 

 Vilmorin, was of a noble and wealthy family, and in both cases 

 resorted to culture and commerce, partly from necessity, and 

 partly from choice. The jardin d^ hiver in M. Fion's garden, 

 or conservatory, as it would be called in this country, was now 

 wholly uncovered ; but the plants had not yet recovered from 

 the effects of the sudden change from the protection and shade 

 of glass to the direct influence of intense solar light. We ob- 

 served the walks bordered with Lycopodium denticulatum, as at 

 Alton Towers. 



The Jardin des Plantes has undergone important changes 

 since 1829, and is now far more complete and in better order 

 than ever we saw it. We were kindly shown through the Mu- 

 seum by Professor Audouin, an enthusiast in everything respect- 

 ing insects, who showed us his mode of feeding them, each on its 

 appropriate species of plant, under glass belis ; the shoots on the 

 leaves of which the insects feed being protruded through the piece 

 of pasteboard on which the bell stands, into a glass of water, by 

 which means the leaves are kept perfectly fresh. M. Audouin 

 is rearranging the insects in the Museum according to their 

 natural families and genera ; and, by means of pieces of paper of 

 different colours, he shows at a glance the part of the world of 

 which the insect is a native. A large building has been erected 

 for the geological collection and the library. The building, in 

 our opinion, has little to recommend it exteriorly, and it appears 

 too much ornamented within for a scientific collection ; but of 

 this building we shall speak in a future article. The library is 

 well arranged ; and there is here an arrangement of pamphlets 

 and essays or articles on subjects of natural history, such as 

 exists, we believe, no where else in the world. In catalogues 

 such as that of the Banksian Library, the contents of pamphlets 

 and transactions, &c., are analysed and classed together, so that 

 they can be readily referred to, if the books are in the library ; 

 but here the essays and pamphlets themselves are taken to pieces, 

 and bound up according to the subjects. The merit of this 

 extraordinary degree of knowledge, care, and labour, is due to 

 M. Lemercier ; who informed us that two copies of each pamphlet 

 or article is necessary, and that when these could not be pro- 

 cured in type, then, as a substitute for one copy, he used 

 manuscript. Labours of this kind may be compared to rail- 

 roads to science ; since it enables the student of any one topic 

 to read everything respecting it in less than the time that would 



