Bulimy and Zoology, 275 



be otherwise, then, than that in the whole New World material sh 

 I,.* discovered irhicfa should throw new light on the ancient n 

 of the u r l" !,,> - The "I''-' 1 thai bo American can be qualified to make [ 



I such material, is another instance of the arrogance to which I 

 haw before alluded, and t«> which it would be unmanly team 

 submit 



TIL BOTANY AND ZOOL- 



1. Geological and Xatural History Survey qf North Carolina. Part 

 III. Botany; contaiuiny a Catalogue of (he Plants of the State, with 

 Descriptions and History of th- Trtt* y Shrubs, and Pratt. I'v Rev. M. A 



Curtis, D.D. Raleigh, 18G0: the First part only, the Woody Plants of 



North Carolina, pp. 123, 8vo. — We have turned over the pages of this 

 popular exposition with much interest. an<l Lcloaned some valuable infor- 

 mation. " Botanists will of course find fault with it," sajfl the author, 



who we well know could write scientifically and profoundly enough, if he 

 so pleased, but who lias here come down to the level of his most unlearn- 

 ed readers, discoursed separately of trees, shrubs, and vines, and classi- 

 fied these in a fashion which might well shock the susceptibilities of a 

 stickler for technical nomenclature and natural system in botany. Now, 

 we are not shocked at all ; indeed we quite enjoy a glimpse of Flora en 

 deshabille and slip-shod, and are well aware how much easier it is, and 

 how much better in such cases, to fit your book to its proper readers than 

 to fit the readers to it. The fault we should find is not with the plan of 

 this Report, but with the quantity. We could wish for more of it, for a 

 volume as large at least as Mr. Emerson's Report on the Trees and Shrubs 

 of Massachusetts, We quite like to see the popular names put foremost, 

 but would suggest that the botanist who does this should had as well as 

 follow the indigenous nomenclature, so far as to correct absurd or incon- 

 gruous local names and introduce right or fitting ones as far as practica- 

 ble. For instance Viryin's Down- is not a proper name for Wistaria fru- 

 tescens, and is rightly applied to Clematis Viryiniana over the leaf. (Wo 

 venture to add, in passing, C, Viorna to the list, having gathered it in 

 Ashe County.) And. although the people along shore call Baccharis by 

 the name of the English annual weed, Groundsel, it were better to write 

 it Groundsel-tree. Yellow wood is the name of Cladrastis, rather than 

 of Symplocos, which the Carolinians call Horse- Suyar. Dr. Curtis can 

 coin a name upon occasion ; for surely nobody in Carolina knows Men- 

 ziesia globalaris as False Heath, nor has it any scientific claim to this ap- 

 pellation. While in critical mood we may express a strong dissent from 

 the proposition that Rhododendron punctatujn is too inferior to the other 

 two species M J» attract or deserve much attention." With us, it is sur- 

 passingly beautiful in cultivation, none the less so because its habit is so 

 different, having light and pendent branches, when well grown forming 

 bn>ad and thick masses, and loaded with its handsome rose-colored blos- 

 soms. While Leucothoe Catesbai is called "a very pretty shrub," the far 

 handsomer Andromeda forihunda, so much prized by our nurserymen, 

 gets no commendation. Maynolia Fraseri mav not only be "cultivated in 

 the open air near Philadelphia," but is perfectly hardy near Boston, and 

 the earliest to blossom ; but we never noticed the fragrance of the flow- 



