discoveries made in the Eastern Himalaya are only har- 
bingers of what are to be expected from the vast moun- 
tain regions still further to the east. It is interesting to 
trace the development of the genus across the old world; 
and it may be thus sumarized.. In Europe three occur in 
the extreme west, lapponicum in Norway, ponticum in South 
Spain, and ferrugineum in the Pyrenees, the latter occurs 
inthe Alps of middle Europe, with hirsutum, but does not 
extend into Asia, where ponticum reappears in Asia 
Minor, Syria, and in the Southern Caucasus, with flavum 
and caucasicum. The latter country (the Caucasus) is 
the Hastern limit of these three. Excluding the few high 
northern Asiatic Species, none are found east of the Cau- 
casus till entering the Affghan region, to which affyhani- 
cum and. Collettianwm are confined. On reaching the ~ 
Himalayan region the development of the genus advances 
with rapid strides. Four species are found in the Western 
Himalaya, between Kashmir and Nepal, arboreum, cam- 
panulatum, barbatum, and anthopogon, all of which advance 
to Sikkim, where twenty-nine have been collected. Hast 
of this province again, Bhotan has only twenty-five, — 
Seventeen of which are Sikkim species; but considering 
how imperfectly that. great and lofty province has been 
explored (its Alpine regions not at all), it may safely be 
assumed that this number does not include half of what 
it contains. Proceeding eastwards little is known of 
the vegetation till China is entered, and as Mr. Hemsley 
informs me that between sixty and seventy species have © 
been collected in its barely entered western mountains, by 
ére David, Dr. Henry, and others, it may be regarded as 
probable that the celestial empire contains more species 
of this genus than all the world besides. Hastward of 
China there is a rapid decrease, to fourteen in Japan, two 
or three in Western N. America, and about six in Hastern, — 
including R. lapponicum, with which this summary began. 
rom the Himalaya a stream from the genus flows south 
along the Malayan Peninsula to the Malay Islands, New 
umea, and 8. Australia. Most of its members belong to 
a section with thin valve capsules and long-tailed seeds, 
and of these one alone is Himalayan, the RK. vaccinioides, 
of Sikkim.—J, D, H. | 
ret, Portion offundersurface of leaf of the natural size, showing the minute 
> stamen ; 3, ovary; and 4, transverse section of do. :—all enlarged. 
