84 Scientific Intelligence. 



4. The Wild Flowers of America. Illustrations by Isaac 

 Sprague. Text by George L. Goodale, M.D., Assistant Profes- 

 sor of Vegetable Physiology and Instructor of Botany in Harvard 

 University. Part I. Boston: (Houghton & Co.) Dec. 1876. 

 pp. 16, tab. 1-4, imp. 4to. — It is proposed to published this work 

 in quarterly parts or numbers, and in it "to present illustrations 

 and descriptions of all the more attractive flowering plants of 

 America,"— meaning, no doubt, the United States, and the Atlan- 

 tic portion of them, without excluding perhaps, the Western and 

 even the Pacific States as the work goes on. It is a large under- 

 taking, even under the most restricted view. The want has been 

 felt, atul various futile attempts have been made to supply it. 

 They have speedily come to nought, most of them deservedly, the 

 few worth having because they would not pay. The only work 

 of the kind we can now call to mind which gave fairly good 

 figures of our wild flowers, and which was carried beyond a single 

 part or volume, was l,y the late Dr. W. P. C. Marlon. This was 

 upon a plan not unlike that of the present work, perhaps equally 

 expensive, for the figures were hand-colored, but far less sumptu- 

 ous, and the figures — though really good — by no means so admira- 

 ble as those by Mr. Sprague, who is almost unrivaled as a botanical 

 draughtsman." These figures arc not in the style of the North 

 American Genera Illustrated, in which Mr. Sprague's talent in this 

 line was first made known. The plates of that work were ad- 

 dressed to botanists only, are imcolowd outlines, mainly valuable 

 for their dissections and other details. These are imperial quarto 

 plates, representing the flowers and as much of the herbage as is 

 needed to give their part and bearing, in their natural colors, 

 reproduced from the art I lie chromo-lithographic 



process. The undertaking was probably suggested by t I 

 of this kind of work by the same artist in the colored plates of 

 Mr. Emerson's Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts, to which we 

 called attention a year ago. The present work therefore ad- 

 dresses itself to amateurs as well as to botanists, to all lovers of 

 flowers and admirers of beautiful works of art. From all these 

 evidently it must have a large patronage if it is to prosper and 

 continue. Nothing upon such a scale of excellence has ever been 

 attempted in this country before. The plates are simply exquisite ; 

 in the typography the iliverside Press has done its best; and the 

 letterpress not only describes the flowers represented clearly and 

 popularly, but expatiates upon their arrangements for insect-aid 

 novel and attractive topic of the dav— ami 

 adds other curious lore. 



The first plate charmingly represents our wild Columbine 

 (Aquilegia Canadensis) ; the second, our wild Cranesbill ( Gera- 

 ,i,i,i, „ ,,,,,,-i, (,!/,,,„); the third, Many-leaved Aster (Aster >n,<h<l<i- 

 tus); the fourth, both the Yellow Gerardia (G.jktva) and the 

 ' nder purple species, G. tenuifolia. (We take blame 



popular name 



Gerardia makes r) g.- 



