Miscellaneous, 285 



thor's researches have shown that this fact is not general. On a spe- 

 cimen of Encephalartos affinis, Lehm., he found a bud composed of 

 young leaves shortened, the points of which converged at their 

 summit, and the leaflets on each side of the rachis were imbricate 

 (on account of the shortening of the latter), and they were applied 

 one against the other by their front surface. The same phenomenon 

 is seen in the E. Altensteinii and horridus, Lehm. The terminal bud 

 in the species of this genus is not in general developed except at 

 intervals of two or even of several years : in the young plants and the 

 lateral buds of great stems very often only a single leaf or a very 

 small number of leaves is developed at a time. The growth of the 

 young leaves is caused by the extension of the rachis and of the 

 leaflets. The E. spiralis, Lehm., likewise presents the same cha- 

 racters. 



In the Zamia, Lehm. the leaves present a development altogether 

 diff"erent. In the Z. pumila, media, the young rachis in the bud is 

 bent in the form of the head of a crosier, but the two series of leaf-, 

 lets are imbricated on each side and applied one against the other, 

 so that their summit is directed downwards by the gyrate arrange- 

 ment of the rachis. 



Another disposition of the young leaves is noticed on Cycas circi- 

 nalis and revoluta, Thunb. Their rachis as well as the leaflets are 

 bent like the head of a crosier, each one having its own axis of in- 

 volution as in the Ferns. 



These diff'erent characters in the disposition of the leaves appear 

 to merit consideration with respect to their use in defining the ge- 

 nera ; and M. Miquel, notwithstanding the small number of species 

 which he has been able to observe, is induced to attribute some im- 

 portance to these differences which have hitherto escaped most bo- 

 tanists. — Extract from the Bulletin des Scienc. Phys. de Neerlande, 

 t. i. p. 129. 



ON THE SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT OF THE CHRYSIDIDJE, 



M. Klug has given a systematic arrangement of the family of in- 

 sects called Chrysidida, He first separates the genus Cleptes, which 

 is sufliciently distinguished from Chrysis by the abdomen, arched be- 

 low and above, terminating in a point and consisting of more than 

 four segments, whilst in the latter the abdomen is flat beneath, blunt 

 at the point, often broad, consisting only of three, or at the most of 

 four segments : hence Cleptes might be separated as a sub -family, 

 Cleptidce, and might then be considered as following Chrysis, and 



