38 
is on that ridge represented by a slender thread, which on the top 
and back of the seed is entirely indistinct, or scarcely perceptible, 
or it is more or less prominent like a thread. In our American 
species these characters seem pretty trustworthy. There are given 
cuts of grape-seeds to illustrate the different characters. V. wstivalis 
has the raphe and more or less circular chalaza strongly developed. 
V. riparia has the seeds obtuse, or very slightly depressed on top, 
chalaza rather flat, elongated, and gradually lost in a groove which 
encloses the scarcely prominent raphe. V. cordifola is similar, but 
the raphe is usually more prominent, and nearer to that of V. 
estivalis. V. Labrusca has the seeds large and notched, rather 
flat chalaza and no raphe seen in the groove which extends from the 
chalaza to the notch. V. vulpina has a very distinct seed, flatter, 
with straighter sides, wrinkled on both surfaces, notched on top, 
narrow chalaza, and no visible raphe. The seeds of European vines 
are easily distinguished from all American grape-seeds by the nar- 
rower and usually longer beak, and especially by the large, though. 
not very prominent chalaza, which occupies the upper and not the 
middle part of the seed. . 
Dr. Engelmann does not favor Regel’s attempt to unite our species 
with those of the old world. V. vinifera finds its place between 
V. riparia and V. estivalis. It belongs to the earliest acquisitions 
of cultivation. Not onlyhave the sepulchres of the mummies of ancient 
Egypt preserved us its fruit (large-sized berries) and seed, but its seeds 
haveeven been discovered in the lacustrian habitations of Northern 
Italy. Its native country is a question. Regel’s theory has been 
he in the place quoted. Prof. Braun of Berlin suggests that the 
_ different varieties are the offspring of distinct species yet found 
wild in many parts of Southern Europe and Asia, which thus he 
considers not the accidental offspring of the cultivated plants, 
as is generally believed, but the original parent stock. Dr, Engel- 
mann adds from his own investigations that the grape-vine which 
inhabits the native forests of the “bottom lands” of the Danube 
well represents our V. cordifolia and V. riparia, while the wild 
grape of the hilly countries of Tuscany aud Rome reminds him of 
V. estivalis. The latter was known to the ancients as Zabrusca, a 
name improperly applied by science to the American species, and is 
called by the natives to this day Brusca. The grape-vines of the 
countries south of the Caucasus mountains, the ancient Colchis, the 
reputed original home of these plants, greatly resemble the Italian 
plant just described. 
The number of true grape-vines in the present territory of the 
United States, considered good species, is limited to nine, of which 
we copy the description. It will be seen that the first four species 
are more or less glabrous, the next four more or less woolly or cot- 
tony, the ninth again glabrous. The first six have smaller berries, 
the others larger ones. 
E Grape-vines with loose shreddy bark, chmbing by the aid of 
mae tendrils, or (in No.1) without tendrils and not climbing at 
