246 Screntific Intelligence. 
position to hold in respect to herbalistic and ancient names. The 
ond “Genera Plantarum” was that of Linneus, in 1737, of 
which the last ge revised by the author himself was that of 
1767. The thir s that of Jussieu, “secundum ordines natu- 
rales disposita,” which appeared in the year 1789. That of End- 
licher—a monument of literary or bibliog reeupe er pi rather 
than of botanical research—was brought out in the main between 
1836 and 1843, at about the same sp with the more yan pretend 
ing synoptical ‘compilation of Meisner. These were important in 
their way. | But the “ Genera Plantaruin” of Bentham and Hooker, 
which began to be issued in the yea 2 and was finished in the 
spring of the present year, is ‘hie lineal successor of the three 
eighteenth grees The present work—increased from the one 
small octavo of Linnzus to three thick imperial octavo volumes 
of nearly 1 "200 pages each—stands in like relation to the nine- 
Unlike its predecessors, however—and in this respect agreeing 
matt the other great botanical Rania of the century, the ‘“ Prodro- 
mus” of De Candolle—the whole of oe botany is omit- 
cryptogamic orders; and now even the best of er yptogamists $ can 
hardly aspire to more than a general and superficial acquaintance 
with any other department than the one to which he devotes him- 
self. This inevitable state of things has its disadvantages. e 
reasons for it do not really apply to the ferns and their allies, and 
it was naturally expected, as it is much to be desired, that these 
should enter into the present work. May we hope that this still 
may 
Some idea of the progressive enlargement of the field may be 
a comparison of the number of genera characterized in 
these successive works. The phenogamous genera of 
Linnzus, “Gen. Pl.,” ed, 1, A. D. oe were . 887 
se a ca GO ALD: NGS. Oo ka Bs 1,189 
Jussieu, * fe Tk rh irre meen e 1,707 
Endlicher, - As D. 1843, ...". (abont)...025. 6,400 
Bentham & Hooker, “ Bde WR ee ew eee 7,585 
If the last had been elaborated upon the scale of Endlicher, or 
ith the idea of ge which is still common if not p valent, 
the number of genera would have amounted to at least ten thou- 
sa _ An estimate of the number of known — of each genus 
Siieeicnntiend only, mentioning first the num er in the books, 
_ and the number to which, in the opinion of Segpathors, pe may 
