A. Gray—Memorial of George Bentham. 111 
narrow and more exhausted field of British Botany. His 
Handbook of the British Flora, for the use of beginners and 
amateurs, published in 1858, has gone through four large 
editions. Its special object was to enable a beginner or a mere 
amateur, with little or no previous scientific knowledge and 
Without assistance, to work out understandingly the characters 
by which the plants of a limited flora may be distinguished 
tom each other, these being expressed as much as possible in 
ordinary language, or in such technical terms as could be fully 
explained in the book itself and easily apprehended by the 
learner. The immediate and continued popularity of this 
handy volume, bringing the light of ful] knowledge and sound 
method to guide the beginner's way, iJlustrates the advantage 
of having elementary works prepared by a master of the sub- 
J€ct, whenever the master will take the necessary pains. To 
the same end, the author prepared for this volume an excellent 
and terse introduction to structural and descriptive botany, 
Which has been prefixed to all the Colonial Floras. In the 
'st edition to this British Flora it was attempted to use or to 
give English names to the genera and species throughout. 
Chis could be done only in sach a familiar and well-trodden 
eld as Britain, where almost every plant was familiar; but 
€ven here it failed, and in later editions the popular names 
vere relegated to a subordinate position. 
t has been stated that Mr Bentham was over sixty years 
old when he undertook the Flora Australiensis, and he was 
Seventy-seven when he brought this vast work to completion, 
