pdf 25 MB - BSBI Archive

NEW PUBLICATIONS. 305
' Synopsis.' The cliauges which have been made, from time to time,
ill the six successive editions of tlie ' Manual ' show that he has steadily
kept the genus under observation. The present work may be regarded
as a new edition of the ' Synopsis,' considerably enlarged in plan, and
of course brought up to the present level of the author's knowledge
and opinions. It was intended to have been accompanied by a set of
quarto plates, but as the preparation of these has been, by unavoidable
circumstances, much delayed, it is purposed that they shall appear
when ready as a separate work. As regards arrangement, species
limitation, and nomenclature, the work does not offer any alteration,
as compared with the two last editions of the ' Manual ;' but whilst in
the latter we have the bare diagnoses, we have here a table showing
the distribution of the species through the geographico-botanical pro-
vinces of the island, an historical sketch of the progress of the know-
ledge of the genus in this country ;
a general sketch of the variation in
character which we get within tlie bounds of the genus ; a table show-
ing, in exlenso, the literature of the subject, and under each species
besides a Latin diagnosis, and a complete characterization in English,
a full list of synonyms with explanations respecting them, and a list
of special stations arranged in geographical order. It is a thorough
atid exhaustive explanation of the result of the work which the author
has bestowed upon the genus since he first took it in hand, and of
course needs no recommendation of ours to help it to fall into its place
as the standard handbook to be used by all who wish for information
on the subject.
M. Geneviei*, though he belongs to ^ younger generation of botanists
than Professor Babington, has devoted himself to the study of the
Brambles of the centre and west of France for nearly twenty years.
He learnt his botany at Angers, under Professor Boreau, and after-
wards settled in medical practice at Mortagne-sur-Scvre, in Vendee,
but has recently removed to Nantes. Though he has had a mono-
graph of the Eiifjl of his field of study sketched out for the last dozen
years, he has only issued two or three short papers in the ' Memoirs of
of the Societe Academique d'Angers,' and now gives to the public, for
the first time, the detailed result of his observations. His work con-
sists almost solely of detailed descriptions, extending on the average
to more than a page each, of 203 forms which he admits to specific
rank, the characters upon which he relies mainly for distinguishing them