506 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
ELEMENTARY BOTANY."' 
F EW if any of our savans possessed the power of imparting knowledge 
in such a simple yet lucid manner as the late Professor Henslow. 
Those of his pupils who were educated at the parish school of Hitcham, 
can hear ample testimony to the accuracy of this assertion. It is, therefore, 
with considerable pleasure that we find so distinguished a botanist as 
Professor Olliver has written an elementary manual, based in part upon 
the manuscript material left by the late professor. The physiological 
portion of this little book has been written by Mr. Olliver, and fully realizes 
all our anticipations. It is rigidly accurate, and yet the style has a charm 
about it not often met with in botanical works. The manner is most fascinat- 
ing, and if it does not succeed in making this division of science interesting 
to every one, we do not think anything can. The arrangement of the several 
organs which enter into the composition of a flower is nicely given, and 
the explanation of the distinction between Thalamifloree and Calyciflorae, 
as illustrated by the buttercup and bramble, is tersely stated. In the 
chapter on stems we do not find the terms endogenous and exogenous, and 
we are glad of it ; they never definitely expressed the relation of the vascular 
bundles to the other parts. The fibro-vascular bundles of a dicotyledon 
and monocotyledon are compared side by side, and the reader is taught as 
much about the structure of stems in this way, as if a far more lengthy 
description than that accompanying them had been given. The chapter 
on the classification of plants is philosophic without being heavy, and that 
on cells and fibres is equally good. In the systematic portion, the more 
typical natural orders are described at some length, and the application of 
Professor Henslow’ s scheme (described in the last number of Popular 
Science Review) is explained. Nearly two-hundred well-executed wood- 
cuts are scattered through the text, and a valuable and copious index 
completes a volume which we cannot praise too highly, and which we trust 
all our botanical readers, young and old, will possess themselves of. 
THE FLORA OF ULSTER.f 
A BOUT thirty years ago, when the British Association met in Cork, 
several communications were made regarding the distribution of 
plants in the neighbourhood. The matter thus supplied was afterwards put 
forward in the form of a volume on the Flora of the country. This was, as 
far as we can recollect, the only local Flora compiled in Ireland till the 
appearance of the present one, which has been issued under the superin- 
* “ Lessons in Elementary Botany. The part on Systematic Botany 
based upon Materials left in Manuscript by the late Professor Henslow.” 
By Daniel Olliver, F.R.S., F.L.S., Professor of Botany in University 
College. London and Cambridge : Macmillan. 1864. 
t “The Flora of Ulster, and Botanist’s Guide to the North of Ireland.” 
By G. Dickie, M.A., M.D., F.L.S. Belfast: Aitcliison. London: Lovell 
Reeve. 1864. 
