Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Foreign Butterflies.djvu/28

26 conferred on him a high reputation in this department. These consisted of voluminous contributions to the Encyclopédie Methodique, forming a Dictionary of Botany, and an extensive series of Illustrations of Genera. Of that portion of the Encyclopædia known by the former name, Lamarck wrote the whole of the two first volumes, and a part of the third, fourth, and fifth. The object of the work is to give a detailed history of plants, accompanied with descriptions, remarks on their synonymy, an account of their uses, and peculiarities of their structure. The Illustrations profess to afford "an exposition of the characters of all the plants established by botanists, arranged according to the sexual system of Linnæus, with figures displaying the characters of these genera, and a table of all the known species referable thereto, the description of which is found in the Botanical Dictionary of the Encyclopædia." This laborious work contains no fewer than two thousand genera, illustrated by half that number of quarto plates, executed with great care, and generally representing one or two of the typical species, with a view to afford a knowledge of their general appearance and habit. The flower and parts of fructification are carefully delineated, and the precision and accuracy of the whole work, renders it one of the most valuable that can be named for conveying a speedy knowledge of the extensive and interesting subject of which it treats. The zeal with which Lamarck laboured to produce works of such research and interest, is characteristic