Bibliographical Notices. 283 



eludes by referring that order to Gesneriacece, of which he distin- 

 guishes three tribes, viz. Gesneriece, Beslerieae and Cyrtandrea. 

 Of the latter he describes in detail the modifications of the several 

 organs ; and on the subject of the stigma, and the relations of its 

 divisions to the parietal placentae in the compound ovarium, adds 

 that elaborate and highly important disquisition which we have 

 published entire in our eleventh volume*. A synopsis of the ge- 

 nera of this remarkable tribe is appended to the article ; and is 

 followed by the characters of the genera in greater detail, and of 

 the sections into which they are divisible, with an enumeration 

 of the species referable to them, and characters of many new 

 ones. 



The next article relates to Horsfieldia aculeata, Bl., a genus 

 named in honour of the excellent naturalist to whom we are in- 

 debted for the present work. This is described by Mr. Bennett 

 as one of those anomalous genera of Umbellifera, which scarcely 

 admit of being arranged in any of the existing tribes into which 

 that order has been divided. In many particulars it approaches 

 Araliacea, and thus serves as an additional link of connexion be- 

 tween the families. With reference to the Araliacea, the author 

 corrects a mistake originating with Don and adopted by DeCan- 

 dolle, according to which the seeds of that order are described as 

 erect, while they are in reality pendulous as in Umbelliferce. The 

 valvate aestivation of the corolla is more complete in Horsfieldia 

 than in any other true Umbellifera. 



Tristania obovata is described by Mr. Bennett as the only spe- 

 cies of that genus that has yet been discovered beyond the limits 

 of New Holland. It approaches most nearly among described 

 species to Tristania laurina. 



Euonymus Javanicus, Bl., belongs to that section of the genus 

 in which the seeds continue to retain their original position with 

 reference to the placenta. The general rule, that the raphe pro- 

 perly belongs to that side of the ovulum which is next to the pla- 

 centa, was first laid down by Mr. Brown, who, at the same time, 

 pointed out some remarkable exceptions. In the case of certain 

 species of Euonymus, however, he showed that the exception was 

 confirmatory of the rule, the change taking place subsequent to 

 the completion of the ovula by the resupination of the seeds. 

 M. Adolphe Brongniart has since stated the exceptions to be 

 numerous, and has instanced the families oiRhamnem and Ilicinece; 

 but Mr. Bennett, in the present article, shows that in those fa- 

 milies also the raphe in the young ovulum is internal, although 

 at a subsequent period it becomes external or lateral by a greater 

 or less degree of torsion in the funiculus by which the ovulum is 



* See p. 35. 



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