REVIEWS. 
127 
Useful Plants of South-Western Ceylon. 
(A Descriptive Catalogue of the more useful Trees and Flowering 
Plants of the Western and Sabaragamuwa Provinces of Ceylon ; 
F„ Lewis. Reprinted from Journ. R.A.S., Ceylon Br., 
XVIL, 1903, pp. 89-256 ; 4 maps. 
Commencing with a brief description of the chief features of the 
country, its rainfall, and its division into climatic zones, the bulk of 
this useful little book is occupied by a description of 270 of the more 
important useful flowering plants—especially trees—of these Provinces. 
Though the district actually dealt with only forms one-eighth of the 
Island, it includes such variety of climates and elevations that most of 
the useful native plants of Ceylon are dealt with in the book. 
In the absence of any key to the plants described, the ordinary 
reader, except in so far as he may depend upon the native names, will 
require some such aid as that afforded by Trimen’s Flora or some 
botanical work dealing with the natural orders of flowering plants. 
The species dealt with being once identified, Mr. Lewis’s book provides 
a very useful summary of information as to its native names, uses, &c. 
In particular, the work affords a mine of information as to the value, 
quality, and uses of the various timbers, and should be in the hands of 
every one using timber in any way in Ceylon, as well as of all who are 
interested in the wild flora and the economic products of the Island. 
J. C. W. 
The Timbers of India and Ceylon. 
(A Manual of Indian Timbers, J. S. Gamble. Second 
Edition,London, 1902.) 
A new edition of this, the standard work on Indian timbers, has 
lately appeared. The Ceylon timbers are included in this edition, and 
the work is indispensable to all concerned with timber, containing as 
it does all known reliable information about the various timber trees, 
their distribution and uses, the weight, strength, and durability of the 
timbers, and other points. 
J. c. w. 
The Botany of the Patanas. 
(The Botany of the Ceylon Patanas, I., by H. H. W. Pearson, Journ. 
Linn. Soc., XXXIV., p. 300, 1899 ; II., by J. Parkin and H. H. 
W. Pearson, Journ. Linn. Soc., XXXV., p. 430, 1903.) 
The field investigations described in these papers were carried out 
in Ceylon by Prof. Pearson in 1897, and the subsequent microscopic 
studies were made by Mr. Parkin. The object in view was to 
