lewton: the Australian fugosias 303 



its reducing action on any material containing iron oxides with 

 which it comes in contact, provided the temperature is sufficiently 

 high. At low temperatures, on the other hand, and with abun- 

 dant access of atmospheric oxygen, no appreciable reduction is 

 to be expected. 



BOTANY. — The Australian Fugosias.^ F. L. Lewton, National 

 Museum. 



While engaged in a critical study of the species of Gossypium 

 the writer has become convinced that the Australian shrubs 

 assigned by von Mueller and by Todaro to that genus and placed 

 by Bentham under the name Fugosia should be given another 

 designation, as in his opinion neither of the genera named is 

 represented on the Australian continent except by cultivated 

 plants. 



A study of the relationships of the twelve species of Fugosia, 

 so called, which have been described from Australia is rendered 

 very difficult by the incomplete description of many of the older 

 species and by the meager representation of plants in American 

 herbaria. The writer has, however, received herbarium speci- 

 mens of three species directly from Australia and in addition has 

 studied carefully all the material belonging to this group to be 

 found in the United States National Herbarium, the herbarium 

 of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the com- 

 bined herbaria of the New York Botanical Garden and Co- 

 lumbia University, the Gray Herbarium of Harvard Univer- 

 sity, the Field Museum of Natural History and the herbarium 

 of the Missouri Botanical Garden. His conclusions as to the 

 relationships, names and synonymy of these twelve Australian 

 plants are here presented. 



As already pointed out by Garcke^ and by Todaro,^ the name 

 Fugosia was proposed without any justification by Jussieu^ in 



1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



^Bonplandia 8: 148. 1860. 



' Relazione sulla cultura dei cotoni in Italia, pp. 86-87. 1878. 



* Gen. PI. 274. 1789. 



