ON PRESUMED PARTHENOGENESIS IN A ZANTHOXYLUM. 171 
Memorandum on a presumed case of Partheyiogenesis in Zantho- 
aylum alatum, Roxb. By DANIEL HANÉURY, Esq., F.L.S. 
[Read Nov. 19, 1863.] 
In January last Dr. Anderson brought under the notice of the 
Linnean Society a presumed case of parthenogenesis in a species 
of Aberia, a shrub of which, in the Botanic Gardens of Calcutta, 
bore a large crop of well-ripened fruits containing fertile seeds, 
though only pistilliferous flowers could be detected at the time 
of flowering. 
A case of similar character has come under my own notice: an 
Indian species of Zanthoxylum, the Z. alatum of Roxburgh, a di- 
cious plant, flowered in my father's garden at Clapham in the 
spring of 1862. As I had examined the flowers without being able 
to detect stamens, and knew that no other plant of the same genus 
grew near, I was not a little surprised to find the ovaries swell 
and the berries attain their full development,—and still more so 
When, having carelessly placed three or four seeds in a pot of earth, 
a seedling Zanthoxylum made its appearance. 
In the spring of this year the shrub, now removed from the 
conservatory to the open border, again flowered, and though sub- 
jected to a much more careful scrutiny than previously, I failed 
to discover upon it any other than pistilliferous flowers. Still the 
ovaries became enlarged, and the shrub again bears mature berr'es, 
some of which I now exhibit to the Society. 
Mountains and Islands in the Bight of Benin; collected/ by 
Mr. Gustav Mann, Government Botanist. By J. D. HoÓOkzz, 
M.D., V.P.R.S. & L.S. 
On the Plants of the Temperate Regions of the ete 
[Prane I] 
[Read Nov. 5, 1863.] 
Tux last few years have been fruitful in contributions to our 
knowledge of the botany of the least known, and in £he present 
state of science, most interesting portion of the globe, namely the 
interior and mountains of tropical Africa. The collections of 
Q 
