150 DR. F. WELWITSCII ON THE VEGETATION 



in Dr. Liudley's ' Elements' (fig, 180), he regards as offering a 

 clear indication in their venation of their petiolar origin, and 

 their ovules metamorphosed into leaflets as bearing the same rela- 

 tion to the carpels as the leaflets of a compound leaf to the com- 

 mon petiole from which they arise. This view of the relation of 

 ovules to carpels leads him to propose the following theory of their 

 origin ; viz. " that ovules are a metamorphosed state of the leaflets 

 of compound leaves, or of the lobes or parts of simple leaves ;" and 

 he concludes his Paper by some observations in which this theory 

 is developed more at length. 



Letters on the Vegetation of "West Equinoctial Africa. From Dr. 

 Erederick Welwitsch, addressed to W. W. Saunders, 

 Esq., V.P.L.S. 



[Eead July 1st, 1858.] 



S. Paulo de Loanda, 

 12 Sept., 1857. 



My highly esteemed friend, — A few days since, I returned 

 from the interior suffering from fever, which for five weeks has daily 

 attacked me. I cannot, however, refrain from sending you a hasty 

 sketch of the extent and success of my botanical rambles in the 

 interior of this wonderful country, with best wishes that these 

 lines may find you and my other London friends in good health. 



During the first year of my residence in this country, I endea- 

 voured to investigate the botanical treasures of the coast territory 

 from the Quizembo E-iver north of Ambriz as far as the mouth of 

 the Coanza, which I very nearly succeeded in doing. In October 

 1854 I ascended by degrees over the lower mountains, which were 

 mostly covered only With frutices, to the dark shady region of the 

 mountain forests of Cazenojo and Grolungo Alto, where I stayed 

 nearly two years. Everything that reminds you of the flora of 

 the coast and of the lower mountains disappears suddenly as if by 

 magic in this region, whose highest mountain-peaks rise more than 

 2000 feet. Above 300 different species of trees and more than 

 400 kinds of climbing plants, closely entwined, form here a most 

 magnificent primeval forest, whose ground is luxuriantly overgrown 

 by more than sixty species of ferns, partly of arborescent forms. 

 Amongst other most remarkable trees I found a Napoleona (ramis 

 verticillatis), a Myristacacea (a noble tree 80 to 100 feet high), 

 twenty-eight species of Ficus, some gigantic specimens of a JVa- 



