200 DE. H. F. HANCE OS SOME CHINESE COBTLACEiE. 



more or less perfect specimens of Loureiro's original plant exist 

 in the British Museum or elsewhere. By some singular misappre- 

 hension, Prof. Miquel (Ann. Mus. Lugd.-Bat. i. 119; anno 1863), 

 whilst excluding Q. Et/rei, Champ., — the very tree taken by See- 

 mann for Loureiro's species, — admits the latter as a native of 

 Hongkong, regardnig it, under the name of Castanopsis ferox, 

 Spach (not quoted by A. DeCandolle), as the same with (7. tri- 

 lulo'ides. Finally, in 1864, M. Alphonse DeCandolle, in his re- 

 vision of the order (Prodr. Syst. Eeg. Veg. xvi. sect. post. pp. 105- 

 116), relegates both Q, Eyrei and Casianea chinensis amongst the 

 " species dubise," observing that a leaf of the plant Blume had 

 taken for the latter proves it to be quite distinct from (7. trihii- 

 Idides, That Blume's tree, of which I have no knowledge, is dif- 

 ferent also from G, chinensis is evident from the leaves being 

 described as downy beneath and setaceo-serrate, and the branch- 

 lets as tomentose ; whilst the distinct assertion of Bentham, the 

 smaller leaves, shorter petioles, and the absence of any reference to 

 aculei on the involucre would seem to prove the same of Q* Eyrei. 

 It must be through some unaccountable error that the latter is 

 reported, on the late Colonel Champion's authority, to be " abun- 

 dant in the Wong nei chung wood." Neither the late Dr. Harland 

 nor myself ever succeeded in finding a single tree, though we re- 

 peatedly searched the woods there and elsewhere in Hongkong, 

 with that special object ; nor have I ever seen specimens col- 

 lected by the various botanists or amateurs who have explored 

 these woods ; so that, after nearly a quarter of a century's sojourn 

 in southern China, the species is still quite unknown to me. 



In the autumn of 1866 I had the advantage of making an ex- 

 cursion, with Mr. Sampson, from Canton up the North Eiver, to 

 a distance of about 130 miles into the interior of the province of 

 Kwangtung; and we then detected, in the dense forest clothing 

 the narrow gorge of the Tsing-yune Pass, a fine Chestnut, which 

 I have now, after careful examination, no hesitation in regard- 

 ing as Loureiro's species. My reasons are : — 1, that it agrees 

 perfectly with his diagnosis, so far as that extends ; 2, that a Co- 

 chinchinese tree is, from the geographical position of Anam, 

 more likely to be identical with one restricted to south Chma 

 than with one extending northwards. In fact, even of the ten 

 oaks (including Castanopsis) recorded from Hongkong, two only, 

 Quercus tJialassica and Q. salicina are known to occur as far 

 north as Che-kiang and in Japan; whilst there is no evidence 

 that the only Cochinchinese species, Q. cornea^ does so, thouga 



