438 Scientific Reviews. 
the most active of our British botanists, and the numerous facts 
contained in a select and extended correspondence, have been 
brought forward in support of this meritorious undertaking, and it 
only remains for the public to preserve the character which it has 
obtained of seeking merit even at the expense of every other con 
sideration. 
_ Enthusiastic admirers of botany, having the greatest respect for 
the talents and energy of the editor, it would be a mere matter of 
congeniality of feeling with us to dwell on these features of excel- 
lence contained in a work of this kind, and which are not visible 
to every gross eye ; or to pourtray in the glowing imagery of living 
colours the advantages to be reaped from the possession of such a 
mine of betanical wealth. 
But as in our judgments, however severe, we never like to be 
cruel, so in our praise we think it folly to be too lavish ; and as 
that which possesses intrinsic worth only requires to be known, the 
best encomium on the “ Botanical Miscellany” will be an allusion 
to a certain portion of its contents. 
The first part opens with a drawing by Dr. Greville, whose pen- 
cil will very probably transmit to posterity the figures of more 
acotyledonous plants than that of any other man living,— of the 
““ most noble of all mosses,” the Spiridens Reinwardtu, from the 
veleano of Tider in the Moluccas; and a Bryum from the Andes, 
named after our valued friend Dr. Gillies, who discovered it near 
the foot of the mountains in the vicinity of Mendoza. These are 
followed by descriptions of new and rare plants, principally from 
South America, and collected by W. Cruikshanks, Esq. of Valpa- 
raiso, and by Dr. Gillies, who, during a long residence in the 
extra-tropical parts of America, exerted himself in studying the 
natural history of many unexplored districts, ccellected with dis- 
cernment and enthusiasm, and has brought home an almost ex- 
haustless mass of materials, the botanical part of which are destined 
to afford some of the most interesting materials of this publication. 
The mahogany tree, on account of its importance, is noticed at con- 
siderable length ; and the part is completed by some interesting 
botanical communications, among which is a translation from the _ 
German of “ Schultes’s Botanical Visit to England in 1824,” 
which is particularly remarkable for what our continental neigh- 
> bours weuld call piquant observations. There is also some in- 
formation respecting the German Botanical Society, the localities 
of some rare plants in Scotland by Wm. Wilson, Esq. of Warring- 
ton, and some account of the substance commonly known under 
the name of rice paper. 
The second part commences with a valuable paper on the Bota- 
nical Characters, and Remarks on the Cultivation of the Sugar- 
Cane, by James MacFadyen, M. D. Jamaica. This, like the other 
‘monographs, contains a beautiful illustration. There are, in ad- 
dition, Descriptions of New and Rare Species by the Editor ; 
Monographs on the Genus Colliguaja of Molina, with an Account 
