Botany and Zoology. 109 
species is appended, and a list of colonial names. The preface gives an 
account of tke circumstances under which the work was undertaken, and 
of the materials which the author has 80 sedulously and promptly elab- 
Y 
all the principal authors who have written on West Indian seine belong 
to the last century, and consequently to the lcaee school, a gen- 
eral synopsis of West Indian plants has never before been attenipled, “not 
even by Swartz, whose Flora reiegeate descriptions of his new species 
only, with a few remarks on allied forms.” Moreover, the British West 
Indies offer o ni the s separate raters of a larger flora; and Trini- 
e 
ae me spared by the Gulf Suseseh.c rr thie. seems not et the 
case, ana ca, again, from its mountainous character and more distant 
position, most "of the leeward islands, from being wooded voleanos, and 
the majority of the windward ones, with a dry climate and a low calea- 
Feous soil, form three divisions of this tropical archipelago, which show 
aS many peculiarities, Thus the whole of the prvi West Indies, as 
comprised in this flera, may be divided into five natural sections, ria 
with a distinct botanical character.” Alto gether, they amount to abou 
15,000 English square miles, or nearly twice the area of Wales. But 
Fet Haysi isn is neatly twice, ge! Cuba near ly ‘dyias, as large as all 
> 
far Jess explored, the publications of Jacquin, Swartz, &e., having been 
almost contined to the British pos s; so that it was with old species 
0 
sane that Dr. Grisebach had to deal, those which were “ the founda- 
n, indeed, of our scientific knowledge of the flora of tropical America.” 
And these “have so often been roe BRE that their synonyms are 
far more numerous than their numbers.” A general West Indian f lora 
being out # oh present question, we learn with interest that Dr. Grise- 
‘h is pre ving a special paper on the geographical range of the West 
Indian iat incheding the capital island of Cuba, which Mr. Charles 
Wright has so indus ustriously and successfully ex Bee through its length 
and beeadth, a and is expecting still further to explore 
€ may here add the remark that Mr. Wright’s third —— of 
—" ~~ and ferns—the fruits of his labors for the last three 
: ‘been made, consisting, in the fullest sets, of wee 1800 
species tes bers, (incl uding some which have been redistributed under 
old numbers.) and that the aegis part of them have already been de- 
termined fe Dr. oes eee ow recogni ized bamalewlty in West _ 
forms among t 
y = ange author has added 8 
‘Nce with the. 
