London, Edinburgh, fy Dublin Philosophical Magazine. 445 



Saturn." The President of the Society entered into a long learned ana- 

 lytical justification of the reasons which led to the present disposal 

 of the medal for works, which had been published and known for some 

 length of time. 



The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



The Annals of Natural History, formerly conducted by Sir W. 

 Jardine, Sir W. J. Hooker, Dr. Johnston, and Mr. Selby, now in- 

 corporates the Magazine of Natural History, formerly conducted suc- 

 cessively by Messrs. Loudon and Charlesworth, and is becoming in 

 England what the Annales des Sciences Naturelle has long been in 

 France, an index of the active occupations and results of the observa- 

 tions of the Zoologists, Botanists, and Geologists of the country. The 

 volume for 1840 commences with a paper by the Rev. Dr. Hincks on 

 the Flora of Ireland, which some consider to have been undeservedly 

 neglected. He pays a just tribute to Mr. Mackay for his Flora 

 Hibernica, as well as to that gentleman's general attention to the 

 subject. The Flora of a country should however do more, he thinks, 

 than give generic and specific characters ; it should discriminate be- 

 tween those plants which are really indigenous and those which 

 appear to have been introduced, whether at an early or a later pe- 

 riod ; it should mark the situation in which the plant is found, and 

 the different parts of the country ; whether abundant or scarce ; and 

 on what kind of soil, as limestone, basalt, &c. It should be an object 

 to record the earliest notice of each plant, and the name of the 

 person who first described it ; to which should be added, remarks on 

 its nature and uses. In a country like Ireland, which has its own 

 peculiar language still in use, the name of the plant in that language 

 should also be recorded when known, as well as the common English 

 names. Mr. Mackay remarks, that it has been a matter of complaint 

 that the natural productions of Ireland have not been sufficiently at- 

 tended to, and another author observes that while England and France 

 have their local Floras, the botany of Ireland remained as much un- 

 known as that of an island in the Pacific ; and a reviewer of Mr. 

 Mackay's book in the Dublin University Magazine, speaks of every 



thing relating to the Natural History of Ireland as just beginning 



3 M 



