466 Jauberl and Speech's 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. Illustrationes Plantarum Orientalium ; on Choix de Plantes 

 nouvelles, ou peu con?ines, de V Asie Occidentale. Par M. le Comte 

 Jaubert, Membre de la Charabre des Deputes, et M. Ed. Spach, 

 Aide-Naturaliste au Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. 

 Ouvrage accompagne d'une Carte geographique nouvelle, en 4 

 Jeuilles, par M. le Colonel Lapie, contenant les principaux Itineraires 

 des Voyageurs Botanistes, depuis le 16e Steele jusqu a nos Jours. 

 A Selection of new or rare Plants from Western Asia, &c. A la 

 Librairie Encyclopedique de Roret, Rue Hautefeuille, No. 10. 

 bis. Livraisons I. et II. Paris, 1842. 



In order to give an idea of what the reader may expect from this work, 

 we give a translation of the preface. 



" I will explain the circumstances which gave rise to this work, and the plan of 

 its execution. Imbued, from my earliest youth, with a lively taste for the study 

 of plants, I explored the South of France, the Alps, the Pyrenees, Australia, and 

 Italy, successively and several times over ; at first in company with the unfortu- 

 nate Jacquemont, whose premature death is deplored by science, and afterwards 

 alone, without interfering with the contribution I made to the Flora of the 

 Centre of France, published by my friend, M. Boreau, director of the botanic 

 garden at Angers.* Since 1819, scarcely a year has elapsed that I have not 

 made a botanical excursion. The flora of the Mediterranean had particularly 

 occupied my attention, and my researches there had given me an intense 

 desire to pursue my studies towards the East. In the spring of 1839, I re- 

 solved, at last, to put this idea into execution. I had the good fortune to join 

 M. Charles Texier, whose splendid archaeological labours in Asia Minor have 

 been so justly appreciated, and who was then setting out on his fourth ex- 

 pedition. It was impossible to find a more certain guide, or a more agreeable 

 companion, for the journey, in every respect. We saw, in company with each 

 other, that portion of Asia Minor which comprehends Smyrna and Ephesus, the 

 valley of the Meander, Geyra and Mount Cadmus in ancient Caria, ancient 

 Phrygia, the chain of the Olympus of Bithynia, Broussa, Nicea, Nicomedia, 

 and Constantinople. 



" My health, which was affected by the climate, prevented me exploring 

 further ; but, although I could only accomplish a part of the task I had im- 

 posed on myself, nevertheless, devoted as I was exclusively to botanising, and 

 furnished with all the ostensible means of making a rich collection, I have 

 brought back a great number of interesting plants, among which there are 

 some new ones. I was proceeding to publish these plants, when 1 was un- 

 expectedly called to the ministry of public works. This infidelity to botany 

 was not to be of long duration. As soon as I regained my liberty, my first 

 thought was to resume my intention of publishing. To proceed with any 

 advantage to science it was necessary to examine the collections brought from 

 the same countries by preceding travellers, in the rich herbariums of the 

 museum, of my honourable colleague M. B. Delessert, and of several other 

 distinguished men of science. As my labour advanced, the horizon extended 

 before me ; and as the desire of studying the flora of the Mediterranean had 

 led me into Asia Minor, I was, in the same manner, induced, by the intimate 

 relation that exists between the vegetation I had just explored and that of the 

 whole of Western Asia, to make myself master of the general features which 



* 2 vols, in 8vo. Roret, Paris, 1840. The types of the species described 

 in the Flora of the Centre of France have been deposited by M. Saul, our 

 fellow-labourer, and myself, at Bourges, in the museum of the department. 



