136 



Revieivs and Notices of Boohs. 



Flora Australiensis : a Description of the Plants of the Aus- 

 tralian Territory. By George Ben team, F.K.S., F.L.S., 

 assisted by Ferdinand Mueller, M.D., F.E.S. and L.S., 

 Government Botanist, Melbourne, Victoria. Vol. I. Ra- 

 nunculaceee to Anacardiacese. Published under the au- 

 thority of the several Governments of the Australian 

 Colonies. 8vo. Pp. 508. London : Lovell Eeeve and 

 Go. 1863. 



This is the first part of one of those colonial floras which are 

 now in the course of publication under the authority of the Go- 

 vernment of this country and of the colonies. Already several 

 important works of a similar kind have been either completed or 

 commenced, such as Bentham's Flora of Hong Kong, Grisebach's 

 Flora of the West Indies, Thwaites' Ceylon Flora, Harvey and 

 Bonder's Flora of the Cape of Good Hope ; besides the more ex- 

 pensive illustrated Floras of Tasmania and New Zealand, by Dr 

 Hooker. We may look ere long for a Flora of Africa, which has 

 been to a certain extent explored by Vogel and M'Williams, 

 Earth and Barter in the Niger Valley, Vogel and Petherick in 

 the White Nile and Nubia, Welwatsch in Loanda, Speke and 

 Grant in Eastern tropical Africa, Kirk and Mellor in the Living- 

 stone Expedition, and Gustav Mann on the shores, islands, and 

 mountains of the Bight of Benin. It is to be hoped that the 

 researches of the various travellers in South America, including 

 Humboldt, Bonpland, Kunth, Spix and Martins, St Hilaire, Buiz 

 and Pavon, Aublet, Endlicher, Cambessedes, Miers, Zuccarini, 

 Gardner, Spruce, and others, may soon be embodied in a work 

 similar to that which is now before us. 



The work is to embrace a description of all the plants of the 

 Australian continent and of Tasmania. The Flora of New Zea- 

 land will not be included. In the introduction Mr Bentham gives 

 Outlines of Botany, with special reference to Local Floras. This 

 consists of — 1. A general view of the Organs of Plants, with de- 

 finitions and descriptions ; 2. The Principles of Classification and 

 Systematic Botany; 3. Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology; 4. 

 Remarks on the Collection, Preservation, and Determination of 

 Plants ; 5. An Index of terms and glossary. 



The author then proceeds to describe the Australian plants in 

 the class of Dicotyledons, and in this volume he embraces 

 the Polypetalous orders, extending from Ban unculacese to Anacar- 

 diace^, and included in the series Thalamiflorae. The work pro- 

 mises to be one of great value. It is conducted by a botanist 

 of high reputation, who is well qualified for the task, and it is 



