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I 
1 
LITERARY NOTICES. 
shining green leaflets. The flowers are double, about three inches in diameter, white, growing singly on short 
setose peduncles, having a naked hemispherical calyx tube, and ovate undivided sepals. Probably a Chinese 
garden variety. From China. Introduced in 1S46 by Mr. Fortune. Flowers in summer. Horticultural 
Society of London. 
Dkimiopsis maculata, Lindley. Spotted-leaved Drimiopsis {Paxl. Fl. Gard., ii. 73). — Nat. Ord., Liliacea? § 
SciUece. — A greenhouse bulb of little beauty. The leaves, which arise from the bulb, are broad, fleshy, oblong, 
six or eight inches long, rolled up at the base, and clouded on the surface with dark green stains upon a paler 
ground. The scape, about as long as the leaves, is terminated by a close raceme of small half-closed bell-shaped 
flowers, the lower ones green and pendulous, the upper white and erect. Allied to Drimia and Lachenalia. From 
the Cape of Good Hope. Introduced in 1849. Flowers in . Horticultural Society. 
LITEKAEY NOTICES. 
Babington's Manual of British Botany (Van Voorst). — Much has been accomplished in the critical 
investigation of our indigenous vegetation within the last few years, in great measure owing, as we 
think, to the publication of the earlier editions of the work now under notice. The first edition, issued 
in 1843, was so immeasurably superior to all that had preceded it on the same subject, and in any- 
thing like the same compass, that we do not feel surprised it should have been so well received as to 
render the publication of a third edition now necessary. Arranged according to the natural system, 
a multum in parvo in style, and abounding in acute criticisms and remarks, no portable publication 
relating to British plants could at all compare with Mr. Babington's until the appearance of the very 
much improved and recently issued sixth edition of Hooker's British Flora, by Dr. Walker Arnott. 
That work and the present may be said to represent the views of two opposite parties of British 
botanists, the one having a, penchant for lumping the species of others, the other for dividing so-called 
species ; but the result is, that the two books taken together, and compared with each other, furnish 
the student of our native plants with more ample and valuable materials in aid of his studies, than 
has ever before existed ; and perhaps as to the question of species, it is of little importance which 
authority he follows, for nothing within the whole range of botany is so indefinite as this question of 
what constitutes a species. All the attempts that have been made to throw light on the subject have 
only, as it appears to us, in reality obscured it. The present edition, we are told, has been carefully 
revised, so as to keep pace with the rapidly advancing knowledge on the subject of British plants. 
On comparing it with the last edition published in 1847, we find, among other changes and additions, 
that under Thalictrum, is an increase of two species, T. flexuosum, Reich, and T. saxatile, D. C. ; of 
Ranunculus we have two new species, R. confusus, Godr., and R. tripartitus, D.C. ; under Sagina, is 
the addition of S. ciliata, Fries; of Rubi, seven species are added; Hieraeeum is altogether newly cast) 
and contains twenty-seven species, instead of twenty-one, as in former editions ; Linaria is reduced from 
ten to eight, by the omission of L. italica, and L. scpium, said to be hybrids between L. rcpens and 
vulgaris ; Atriplcx is reduced from eleven to nine ; Salix is reduced from fifty-eight to thirty-three ; 
Carcx seventy-two instead of seventy, and newly arranged. Among the ferns, Mr. Babington adopts 
the variety incisa of Lastrea Filix-mas ; and places Lastrea uliginosa of Newman as a variety of L. 
cristate, as we had already proposed to do ; Cystopteris dentata is separated from C. fragilis ; and a 
variety latifolium is added of Athyrium Filix-feemina. Of the larger genera throughout the volume, 
an index of species, printed at the end of the genus, will be found a very convenient addition. Many 
of the genera, too, have been rearranged in an analytical manner, greatly to the advantage of the student. 
Altogether we must consider this as the best text-book on the subject of British Botany now extant. — M. 
Summer Life on Land anil Water at South Queensfrrr;/. By W. W. Fyfe. (Edinburgh : Oliver 
and Boyd). — Quecnsferry is a quiet country burgh, lying on the south banks of the Forth, some nine 
miles west from Edinburgh. Although now secluded from the world — a still retreat inviting the 
lover of solitude — it figures as an important place in ancient Scottish history, and a halo of stirring 
events surround its name, of great interest to the historian. The object of the elegantly-illustrated 
work whose title is here appended, is to elucidate the historical interest of Queensferry, and, in con- 
ncelion therewith, its antiquarian relics; but it pleases us much to sec that, in addition to these — the 
legitimate and principal objects of the work — the author indulges in the enjoyment of the natural 
history productions of tile district. He enters at considerable length upon an interesting detail of the 
habits of the various land and marine animals which frequent " the Ferry," or are resident in its 
immediate environs, and likewise gives an account of the vegetable productions of interest, with a 
reference to their localities. The natural history portion is illustrated by admirable engravings of the 
•W birds and fishes, in addition to a profusion of other engravings depicting the various features of interest 
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