DR. H. r. HANCE ON SOM£ CHlNJi;SE COETLACE^. 199 



be blown or carried to a distance, and tbus we find scattered, and 

 sometimes solitary, specimens of all of them. 



1 have also again this summer (1867) found both the forms 

 of Thlaspi in those different and distant localities, viz. at Malham 

 and at Matlock, accompanied by a great abundance of Cerastium 

 semidecandrum. 



On the Bagus Castanea of Loureiro's ' Flora Cochinchinensis ;' 

 with descriptions of two new Chinese Corylacecc. By II. P, 



Haxce, Ph.D., &c. 



[Road ]N"ovember 21, 1867.] 



The tree erroneously taken by Loureiro for the European Chest- 

 nut, though referred to various species, on more or less plausible 

 grounds, by different writers, has, up to the present time, re- 

 mained unknown to most, if not all, European botanists. Will- 

 denow, in his edition of Loureiro's book (ii. G99, Berol. 1793), 

 first expressed a doubt of the accuracy of that author's determi- 

 nation, on account of the leaves being described as entire at the 

 base, and the involucre aa monocarpous. Sprenge], in the tliird 

 volume of the ' Systema Vcgetabilium ' (Giitting. 182G), relying 

 on these difierences, characterized Loureiro's species (Avithout 

 knowing it) as new^, under the name of Castanea chinensis. Buuge, 

 in 1831 (Enum. PL Chin. Bov. p. 62), suggested the probability 

 of the Anamese plant being identical with his own Quercus cJiu 

 nensts; but as this, Avhich is a near ally of Q. serrafa, Thbg., has 

 the leaves canescent beneath, Siebold and Zuccarini (Flor. Japon. 

 fam. nat. sect. alt. p. 225) showed that this opinion was un- 

 tenable. In 1850, the late Prof. Blume (Mus. Lugd.-Bat. i. 

 286) described, under Sprengel's name, a Chestnut said to have 

 been introduced from China into Japan, where it is recorded 

 only as in cultivation. In the * Botany of the Voyage of tbe 

 Herald' (1857), Dr. Seemann records C, chinensis as a native of 

 Hongkong, adducing as synonyms C. trihuloides, Lindl., and 

 Quercus Eyrei, Champ., and marking these and Loureiro's names 

 with notes of admiration. Three years later, in his admirable 

 ' Flora Ilongkongensis,' Mr. Bentham, by the recognition of 

 Quercus Eijrei, tacitly excludes C, trihuldides, and remarks, " I 

 know not on what grounds Seemann refers the Q. Ei^rei to Cas- 

 tanea chinensis, Spr., with which it appears to me to have no con- 

 nexion in foliage, inflorescence, or flowers." From this latlur re- 

 iiiark, and from Dr. Seemann's "!," I suppose I may conclude thajt 



