ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. 15 



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Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta. Vol. iii. 4to. Bengal 



Secretariat Press, 1891 : containing (1) The Species of Pedicu- 

 lar is of the Indian Empire and its Frontiers. By I). Prain, 

 M.B., F.E.S.E., Curator of the Herbarium : pp. i.-iv. 1-196, 

 tt. 1-37. (2) The Maynoliacece of British India. By G. King, 

 M.B., LL.D., F.B.S., C.I.E., Superintendent of the Garden : 



pp. 197-225, tt. 38-74. (3) An Account of the Genus Gompho- 

 stemma. By D. Prain: pp. i., ii., 227-271, tt. 75-105. (4) 

 The Species of Myristica of British India. By G. King : 



pp. 275-331, i.-vi. tt. 106-174. 



It weighs 11 lb. 10 oz., without any binding, and perfectly dry 

 — to imitate one of Macaulay's methods of commencing a review. 

 This is an admirable and astounding work. The quality and 

 elaboration of the botany, the 174 quarto plates, the type and 

 correctness of printing, can be seen in few systematic botanic 

 works published of late years in England. To those who know by 

 experience the difficulties in getting any " finished' ' work done at 

 Calcutta, and the hindrance to scientific work from the heavy 

 official duties, the present volume can be described by no word but 

 astounding. Dr. King and Dr. Prain have overcome obstacles as 

 none of their distinguished predecessors in the Calcutta Botanic 

 Garden have been able to do. It can only be attempted here to 

 give a general idea of the four treatises comprised in the volume. 



The genus Pedicularis now contains 261 species, of which 69 are 

 Indian ; a historic and morphologic account is given. Then follows 

 an essay on its geographic distribution and evolution. The present 

 distribution is entirely in the Northern Hemisphere, and Dr. Prain 

 considers it probable that, from an arctic origin, streams of species 

 have flowed over Europe, Asia to Ceylon, Japan and North America. 

 Next follows the division of the genus into 3 divisions, 5 sub- 

 divisions, 78 sections, with diagnoses thereof, and the allocation of 

 the whole 261 species into the 78 sections. Lastly comes the full 

 description of the 69 Indian species, with plates of every species 

 and the more striking varieties. The Latin diagnosis of each 

 species runs generally to 120-180 words, without any punctuation; 



the synonymy, citation of subsequent authors, enumeration of 

 localities, description with measurements, and discussion in 

 English, are all on the same grand scale. The plates, besides 

 giving a general life-size picture of the species, give copious 

 dissections and magnifications of the corolla, stamens, seeds— in 



short, of all the characters treated of in the text. There are, 

 moreover, numerous tables showing the average comparative 

 lengths of calyx, corolla-tube, &c, with carefully added notes 

 of the number of flowers in each case dissected and measured. 



It is really delightful to get a piece of thorough work ; to see 

 how all the questions of classification, geographic distribution, evo- 

 lution in time, become doubly interesting when worked out upon a 

 single genus, of which the author has a firm grasp, knows nearly every 

 species, and is able to reject all the false identifications and wrong 

 localities which so often obscure the results when some ambitious 

 man attempts to deal with the divisions, affinities, geography and 



