Histoire Naturclle des lies Canaries. 471 



matory garden, which he had been requested by the Marquis Villa 

 Nueva del Prado to superintend. This important object was frus- 

 trated by an ill-natured jealousy and the spirit of party, which, 

 though it rendered his attempts for that purpose unavailable, per- 

 mitted him more leisure, which was profitably employed in researches 

 through the island. In 1828 he was joined by Mr Webb, and the 

 two following years were spent in exploring TenerifFe, and the ad- 

 jacent Canaries. 



The plan of Webb and Berthelot's, " Histoire Naturelle des Isles 

 Canaries," is as follows : — The work will form three quarto volumes, 

 with figures on a similar scale, accompanied by a folio atlas, con- 

 taining from twenty-five to thirty plates, and the whole number of 

 plates engraved or lithographed will be about 300. The first 

 volume (to be sold separately,) will contain a kind of historical mis- 

 cellany, — the History of the Conquest of the Canaries, Statistical 

 tables, &c. The second volume will comprehend the Geography, 

 Geology, and Zoology ; while in the third will be given the general 

 Flora of the Canaries, their botanical geography and phytography. 

 Fifty livraisons will complete the work, and two numbers are pub- 

 lished monthly. 



It is with the zoology and botany that we feel most interested. 

 The first we cannot now enter on, no part of the letter-press having 

 yet appeared, and only one plate of the illustrations being publish- 

 ed, a figure of Fringilla Teydea, w. and b. male find female; a 

 lovely finch, and so far as we can judge from the well-executed fi- 

 gures, joining the finches to the Tanagersby means of the birds al- 

 lied to Tanagra episcopus. 



In the botanical portion we shall first speak of the plates of 

 the phytographic department, or the figures of the species which 

 have been thought worthy of illustration. (None of the descriptive 

 letter- press has yet appeared.) These are engraved upon stone by 

 M. Vielle of Paris, in a style of sharp boldness which could not be 

 improved by the graver, while the details and characters are execut- 

 ed with decision and botanical accuracy. The colouring is slight, 

 but sufficient and clean, and as figures they will rank with the per- 

 formances of masters of the science and the art. The Cistineoz, Cru- 

 cifera;, Frankeniaceai, Resedacece, Hypericinece, Malvacex, and 

 Zygopkyllece, have been already partly illustrated. 



The phytostatic branch of the work, to us the most interesting as 

 perhaps comparatively the most novel, is much more difficult, and 

 requires a union of talent for its execution, which is not always to 

 be found combined. We are happy, however, to think that some 



