160 
Gnetum Gnemon, the latter part of which we quote as of particular 
interest for its bearing on discussions of evolution and development. 
“In flowers so little differentiated as those of Conifere, the distinc- 
tion between ovular and carpellary envelopes may be really not cog- 
nizable because not yet actual, and so the question may be one of 
words; while’in Gzefacee an important advance is made, and the 
ground of a distinction between ovular, carpellary, and perianthial 
envelopes begins to appear. If this be so, a vexed question in classi- 
fication may find a practical settlement. The cultivators of fossil 
botany, finding that Gymnosperms were far the earliest phenogamous 
plants, and that no angiospermous Dicotyledons have been detected 
until long after the appearance of Monocotyledons, almost univer- 
sally treat the Gymnosperms as a primary division or class of the 
Vegetable Kingdom. ‘They are seconded by the histologists or 
organogenists, who naturally make the most of those interesting 
points of structure which they have brought to view, and which ap- 
proximate the Gymnosperms to the Vascular Cryptogams. But the 
question whether Gymnosperms are a part—the earliest and simplest 
part—of the great class of Dicotyledons, or whether they constitute 
an independent class or primary group, must be determined by broad 
and general considerations of the whole structure. Now the tran- 
sition from Guefacee to Angiospermous Dicotyledons is obvious 
and apparently real. If no transitions are extant between the Gym- 
nosperms and Cryptogams, and if—as is clear—the former are truly 
Dicotyledonous and exogenous in structure, and have greater affinity 
with the Angiospermous Dicotyledons than they have with the 
Monocotoledons, then the taxonomist would appear to have good 
grounds for concluding that the proper division of the vegétable 
kingdom is, first into Phanerogamia and Cryplogamia; then the 
former into Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons, then these last into 
Gymnosperms and Angiosperms.—8. The otanical Gazette con- 
' tinues well supplied with interesting communications from E. Hall, 
Garber, Coleman, Burgess and others. We have room only to call 
attention to the note in the May No., On ¢he use 0f Carbon Bisul- 
phide in the preservation of plants, from the Bulletin de la Societe 
Botanique de France. For those who have many plants to be kept 
free from insects this wholesale agent promises to be a great labor 
saver. 
§ 161. Errata.—Although the proof of § 149 was submitted to the author, 
Capt. J. Donnell Smith’s name was misprinted wherever it occurs; also p- 144, 
1. 1, should read, BRuCHIA DoxpeLLII; p. 144, 1. 13 from the bottom, for ‘*‘ synce- 
cous” read *‘ paxcecous ”. 
§ 162. CHANGE OF RESIDENCE OF THE Epiror.—Our correspondents will 
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The Club meets regularly the last Tuesday of the month in the Herbarium, Columbia College, 
at 7:30 P.M. Botanists are invited to attend. Dr. Tuurser, the President of the Club, 
may be found at 245 Broadway. 
