REVIEWS. 
117 
In conclusion, we would congratulate the author on the appearance of 
a third edition, which, though it wants the Equisetaseae and Lycopodaseae, 
still far surpasses its predecessors. Want of space has kept us from entering 
into what appears, even to ourselves, to be endless disquisition as to the 
rights of some forms to the rank of species; but so much has been written by 
men more experienced than we are, without finally settling the dispute, and 
the subjects themselves are so very candidly discussed in this volume, that 
we prefer sending our readers to the pages themselves, than adding one 
more to the already large list of disputants. The price of this volume— 
considering its increase in size—has been materially lessened; and we 
hope that every one who cares about the subject will, by securing a copy, 
help to defray the expense and trouble, which are, we regret to say, neces¬ 
sary consequences to ushering into life works on natural science, where 
they are the result of private enterprise. 
A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, with an 
Account of the Native Tribes. By A. R. Wallace. Pp. 541. 
8vo. London : Reeves and Co. 1853. Price 15s. 
In our last number, when noticing Mr. Wallace’s unpretending little work 
on the Palms of the Amazon Valley, we briefly alluded to the circum¬ 
stances under which it was compiled, referring to his work on the Valley 
of the Amazon for a fuller narrative of the labours of a naturalist in an 
almost unexplored region. This narrative forms the volume now before 
us, which contains notes collected during four years’ residence in this in¬ 
teresting and too little known district. It would be difficult to estimate 
how deeply science is indebted to wayside notes and jottings brought home 
by travellers; observations recorded as trivial, perhaps, at the time, often 
serve to illustrate or confirm a theory that, in the absence of such inde¬ 
pendent testimony, would have scarcely been hazarded, or would have been 
treated with silent contempt. The present age is eminently remarkable as 
an age of observation; and this tendency may, in some measure, have given 
an impulse to the energies of those who devote their prime to foreign travel, 
not with the mere design of spending a few years in the gratification of a 
vacant curiosity, but who go forth with prepared minds, eager to observe all 
that would be likely to advance the interests of science ; and the result has 
been the production of a class of works of travel, unsuited, indeed, to the 
mere literary lounger, but in which the man of science, or of cultivated 
understanding, will take a deep interest, and which will not be dismissed 
