Cooper's Flora Metropolitana. 281 



milar in type and execution. It will be completed in thirty-six li- 

 vraisons, forming three folio volumes. It will appear every three 

 months. The price of each livraison to subscribers will be five florins 

 and a-half. 



Flora Metropolitana, or Botanical Rambles within thirty miles of 

 London, intended for the Student in Practical Botany. By Da- 

 niel Cooper. 12mo. Pp. 139. London, S. Highley, 1836. 

 Scarcely a " Flora" in the proper acceptation of the name. Par- 

 tial lists are given of the species found about particular villages, 

 heaths, woods, &c. One hundred and fifty places are named, and each 

 is followed by a list of the plants which grow near it In a few, the 

 most common are even recorded, but generally some of the rarer spe- 

 cies only, and the nature of the subsoil is occasionally mentioned. The 

 work will be useful to the London botanist as a companion in his ex- 

 cursions. A list of the " land and fresh water shells found in the 

 environs of London," with the localities of each, is appended to the 

 volume. 



The Ornithologist' s Text-Book, being Reviews of Ornithological 

 Works, with an Appendix containing Discussions on various topics 

 of Interest. By Neville Wood, Esq. 12mo. Pp. 232. Lon- 

 don, W. Parker, 1836. 



The idea of the work is good, and a volume comprising tables of 

 the various ornithological systems, and a list of all the works upon 

 this branch of Natural History, (either arranged alphabetically or 

 chronologically,) with a short analysis of their contents, would be of 

 much use to the ornithologist. 



The present work is divided into two parts and a supplement. In 

 the first, or " notices of ornithological works," 109 notices are given, 

 (the various works of an author being generally placed together;) 

 but they are written much too superficially to be of real use, and 

 without a sufficient acquaintance with the works analyzed: some have 

 not been seen at all, such as Illiger's most useful prodromus, and it 

 is passed with that acknowledgment only. Merrem's " Icones et 

 Descriptiones" have not been seen either, and it is scarcely fair to add 

 to this acknowledgment, " but it is probably of little or no value at 

 the present day ;" and for several of the others a review from another 

 Avork has been substituted for the opinion of the author. Part II. con- 

 tains tables of seventeen systems, commencing with that of Willough- 

 by, and to its extent this is useful as a reference. The supplement con- 

 tainssome additional notices of books ; " Hints for a new and complete 



