Retrospect of Domestic Literature—Natural History, &c. 657 
Cult. before 1597, by Mr. John 
Gefrard.. Ger. herb, 35. 
Fi. Si Yer? 
P. 320. ‘§ Sprenceria. Smith's 
Tracts, 270. 
Cal. 5-partit, persistens. Cor. 5- 
petala. Stam. receptaculo inserta. 
Anth. connate. Caps. 5-lucularis, 5- 
valvis ; dissepimeutis e medio valvu- 
Jarum. 
}. Sprencerta. . Willden. sp. pl.\. 
p. 835. Smith's Tracts, 272. t. 2. An- 
drews’s reposit. 2. Brown prodr. 555+ 
Flesh-coloured sprengelia. 
Nat. of New South Wales. 
Introd. 1193, by Messrs. Lee and 
Kennedy. 
Fi.” April — June. GS 
The utility of such a catalogue, so 
conducted, is too obvious to need fur- 
ther recommendation. 
Another curious production which 
ought to have been noticed in our last 
supplement, will be found in ‘¢ Peériji- 
cata Derbeiensia; or Figures and De- 
scriptions of Petrifactions collected in 
Derbyshire,” by Witiram Martin, 
F.L.S. A part of this voluime was pub- 
lished some yearsago in detached num. 
bers in fusciculi, but the completion of 
it was prevented. We believe it was 
al that time, the only altempt that 
had been made in England to give 
coloured figures of extraneous fos- 
sils. In the descriptive part of the 
work, Mr. Martin has applied to these 
subjects the mode of investigation es- 
tablished in botany and Zoology. 
Hence instead of giving a mere list of 
names, and these chiefly of species 
formed from entire genera or tribes 
of organic bodies, he has considered in 
the first mstance every genuine or 
permanent fossil species to depend on 
a single recent one; -and accordingly 
has endeavoured to fix the essential 
characters, by which it may hereafter 
be discriminated. . 
We give the following as specimens 
of the work; sufficiently indicative of 
jis general execution. 
Piowaxshe. A, 5,6, 
“«PHYOLITHUS PLANTITES. (sted. 
 datus) caule simplice tereli striato, 
foliis linearibus verticillatis. S. p. 
“« A fossil vegetable. Original a 
plant, Stem simple, round, slightly 
striated in a longitudinal direction, 
Leaves whorled, limear, entire, about 
twelve or fouricen in each whorl. The 
whorls numerous bot distant. 
Found now and then in ironstone, | 
coal, bind,&c. with other vegetable re. 
mains. The prototype of this petri- 
faction is generally supposed to be an 
Equisetum or Horsetail; but there are 
other plants with stellate leaves, te 
which it might with as much propriety 
be referred: Hippuris, Asperula and 
Galium, fer mstance. 
‘© We may here observe, that little 
has yet been done with respect to 
discriminating the original genera of 
fossil plants: those parts, indeed, ‘on 
which sach discrimination must be 
founded, are rarely, if ever, visible in 
‘the petrified state. The characteristic 
distinctions of the species are frequent- 
ly attainable, ifstudiously sought after 
by a diligent and careful comparison 
of various speciinens; and the habit 
or general appearance of the fossil 
often leads to the knowledze of the 
natural class and order of the recent 
plant: but its genus, fer the most 
part, remains undetermined, or doubt. 
ful. 
‘Bio. 4, Part of a nodule of tron. 
stone, brokeu (in regard to ils cone 
tents) in a transverse direction, show- 
ing three whorls of leaves beionging 
to the above described petrifaction. 
Similar remains have been called 
petrified flowers by collectors of fossils. 
These differ, however, from the next 
specimen, only in size, ‘in being found 
three or four together in the same 
nodule, and in the direction im which 
they lie in the stone. 
“5. A nodule holding a single plant 
in a different direction. 
“6 §. Lam uot certain if the remains 
in this nodule are the same as those 
above. Thestem is much thicker, and 
the whorls more distant, in preportion 
to the size of the piant, than in most 
other specimens, 1 have examined. 
There is also somé appetrance of bran- 
ches in one part of tie stem; but I 
have not, as yet, met with any speci- 
mens that would enable me-to deter- 
mine a specific distinction,” 
Pi. xiv. fio. 4. 
‘¢ ENTOMOLITHUS MONOCULTI- 
Tas, (lumalus) testa marginata antice 
subretus4, postice lunata, cauda recta: 
stylo elongato simplici. S. p. 
‘s A fossil insect. Original a Mono- 
culus?2 Its shell or covering semior- 
bicular, depressed, margtiated: sur. 
face unequal: troat subretuse, or ter- 
minating ina slight blunt sinus: hinder 
part of the shell Innate: the angles 
very acute, The tail or posterior 
par$ 
