tisfied of their character. He saw them at different ages, and under various circumstances; and with the intention of being right in every particular, a great part of them, were long cultivated in his garden. Mr. Walther's modesty is such, that he sometimes places a note of interrogation where he entertains doubts. And even when he is sure there is a propriety of forming a new genus, he gives the character both generic and specific, but leaves the name of the former to be affixed by the masters and leaders in botany. These numerous species were gathered from a district of not more than fifty miles round, reckoning from the place of his residence. Notwith standing their great amount, the gramina and cryptogamia, as well as many trees, shrubs, and other plants, are omitted, which, on account of their difficulty, or the want of opportunity, he had not been able to investigate. The work consists of two parts; first, the arrangement and description of the genera according to the Linnæan classes and orders: and, second, the enumeration and disposition of the species, under their respective genera, with the proper marks of discrimination. Of a performance so respectable to the country, and so honorable to its author, I cannot withhold a full measure of approbation. 1788. Olof Swartz, published at Stockholm, Upsal, and Abo, his Nova Genera et species plantarum. It was intended as a forerunner of the vegetable species, chiefly unknown, that he had digested and matured during his journey through the West Indies, between 1783 and 1787. It is a small octavo in Latin, running not much beyond one hundred and fifty pages. He went deliberately through the Antilles, and visited with a curious eye Jamaica, Cuba, and Hispaniola. The latter more particularly prompted his inquiry; and St. Domingo has furnished many materials for his pages. He sketches herein the characters of sixtyone new genera, and in addition to such a body of novel information, he has enriched many old families of plants, throughout the various classes, with species not before noted, to a large amount. This intrepid and indefatigable botanist, found it expedient to imitate Thunberg, in the alterations he proposed to the classes established by Linnæus. The classes of monœcia, diœcia, and polygamia are reduced; and the plants belonging to them distributed through the other remaining classes. The reason Swartz gives for this alteration, is twofold; first, that in the warmer climates, the greater number of trees are polygamous; and, second, that many plants, commonly considered as hermaphrodites, do nevertheless frequently bear flowers, that are separately male and female. Hence he concludes, not merely that those three classes might be expunged, but that it became a matter of botanical duty to obliterate them. The reason wherefore Swartz retained the gynandria, and permitted it to stand, was derived from the natural character of the orchideæ, an assemblage of plants as distinct as the didynamia, tetrady namia, and monadelphia. American botany owes much to the diligence and perspicacity of this Swedish traveller. 1788. Three quarto volumes were now published in England, by James Bolton, on an order of cryptogamous vegetables of Nova Scotia. The author has confined himself to the fungi, and particularly to those growing around Halifax. This collection of information on one of the most humble and neglected parts of botany, is dedicated to the Earl of Gainsborough, who is commended as a / generous promoter of science. It is remarkable that Mr. B. should have found, within the compass of eight or ten miles, a garics enough to fill a volume; to wit, fifty-one species of this genus, which occupy forty-four copper plates. In the second volume, this unwearied hunter of the fungus tribe, proceeds with the genus agaric, until he describes thirty-five species more; making, in the whole, eighty-six species of this very prolific family. Descriptions and figures of the genera of boletus, hydnum, and phallus, make up the residue of the tome. In the third of these quartos, are contained the remaining genera of clathrus, helvella, peziza, clavaria, lycoperdon, sphæria, and mucor, with all the species that he could discover. There is an appendix subjoined, which comprehends all the additional species which he had found since the commencement of the publication. This appeared in 1791, and may be said to make a fourth volume. So that this publication, on the mere fungi of Halifax only, extends to four quartos; containing one hundred and eighty-two copper plates, and two hundred and thirty-one species. Their various exhibitions and displays amount nearly to nine hundred different figures. Bolton's work being a recital of facts, the result of more than twenty years observation, is very instructive upon this particular branch of botany; especially when it is remembered that the author has taken pains to make his reader understand the principles of classification and system, as applied to these numerous, though obscure members of the vegetable creation. The person who desires instruction upon this department of the science, may study the present work, as it may be truly considered an excellent elementary treatise. 1788. At Manheim, a cheap and handy edition appeared of Jacquin's History of the select Ameri can plants, before mentioned. The scarcity and dearness of the original copies, put them out of the reach of the greater part of botanical readers. Whereupon, at the request of his friend Frederic Casimir, the author consented to the edition now under consideration, and with his own hand prepared corrections for it. The engravings are wholly omitted; it being conceived that the text was sufficiently explicit for the purposes of scientific men without them. 1791. This year Swartz published his Observationes Botanica, explanatory of the plants of the West Indies, and others, in 8vo, with plates; and dedicated it to Professor Schreber of Erlangen. 1792. A sensible memoir in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, on the botanical character of the podophyllum diphyllum of North America, is worthy of being mentioned here. The discerning author has established a new genus, and complimented an admired friend with the name. In this he has been followed by the botanical critics. 1794. At Kingston, in Jamaica, was published a moderate octavo book, by A. Aikman, Esq. It is called Hortus Americanus; and is said to have been written by Dr. Henry Barham. It is a posthumous work, purporting to contain an account of the trees, shrubs, and other vegetable productions of South America and the West India islands; and particularly of Jamaica. Though this publication was made at so late a day, the author appears to have been a cotemporary with Sloane; and to have furnished him with many materials for his great work, already noticed. Although the articles are in many respects incomplete and unfinished; they, notwithstanding, contain good and substantial information; and the Linnæan index which now accompanies them is an excellent addition for the botanical reader, and man of science. 1797. Swartz, the Swede, had promised in his prodromus already mentioned, something further on the plants of the West Indies. This year, the first volume of his Flora India Occidentalis was printed at Erlangen in a moderate octavo forin. It pursues the course marked in the prodromus, with additions and illustrations. He has adorned it with figures. The first part of his second volume appeared in 1798. The second part came forth in 1800. This goes no further than the class of Monadelphia, and I have not seen any more of it. He persists in discontinuing the three classes, which, in the beginning, he had expunged as unnecessary. 1797. This year Martin Vahl published at Copenhagen, the first fasciculus of his Ecloga Americanæ, in folio, with figures. The work professes to contain descriptions of plants not before known, particularly those of South America. It is inscribed to John Ryan, an ardent cultivator of natural history. Availing himself of the labours of Von Rohr, Tonder Lund, Ryan, Plfug, West, and some other collectors, the author has attempted to enlarge the province of botany, and to add many genera and species which former observers had overlooked. Vahl extols, in the strongest terms, the elegance of American plants, as surpassing those of the other quarters of the globe. The form of the trees, he says, is more exquisite, as is manifest fron an inspection of a branch as well as of the whole tree and herb, and striking the botanist with a singular and unexpected structure of the parts, and peculiar lustre and air of novelty, not observable in the vegetable productions of any other great division of the globe. An American reads with , |