86 NOTICES OF SERIALS. 



— that is to say, of a homogenous structure, destitute of cotyledons. It appears to 

 be developed in an ovule deprived of the usual integuments, or reduced to a simple 

 nucleus, and is lodged in albumen of firm texture. Embryonic seeds have, how- 

 ever, as yet been observed in but three out of the fourteen genera known. With 

 respect to the exact affinities of Balanophorese, Dr. Hooker says: — "In endea- 

 vouring to determine the affinities of Balanophorese, I shall disregard the negative 

 characters — as those may be termed which are founded on the imperfection of 

 organs — and I shall take the most perfectly developed species as the best ex- 

 positors of the typical structure of the order. In so doing, I believe I am obeying 

 a maxim supported by an extensive study of the natural system ; for there are few 

 natural orders, however perfect, that do not present structurally incomplete genera 

 and species, many of which, in point of development of their organs, might rank 

 below many Balanophorese and some Cryptogams, but which, nevertheless, are not 

 departures from the type of the order, but simply less developed forms of it. 

 Balanophorese have an adherent perianth in all the genera where this organ is 

 developed, and an epigynous stamen in Cynomorium, the only species in which 

 hermaphrodite flowers occur. These characters indicate a position amongst the 

 epigynous Calyciflorse, a group which, though far from being well limited as a 

 natural class, is in our present state of knowledge one of considerable value as com- 

 prehending many nearly allied natural families. Amongst them the most direct 

 relation of Balanophorese is certainly with Haloragese (and especially Gunnera), 

 with which it presents many important characters in common, especially the valvate 

 perianth and stamens opposite its lobes, and near which I would place it in a lineal 

 series." He then proceeds to detail, at some length, the various points of agree- 

 ment with Halorageae, an Order made up, like the Balanophorese, of genera in 

 various stages of organic development, and itself an imperfect expression of a higher 

 type of structure. No botanist who has hitherto investigated this Order has had 

 command of such ample materials as Dr. Hooker, and very few, indeed, of living 

 botanists could have made such excellent use of them. The details of structure are 

 given with this author's usual exactness, and at the same time with brevity ; and 

 the paper is illustrated by sixteen quarto plates full of admirably executed figures. 

 In preparing these plates no pains have been spared to render them a full atlas of 

 the matter contained in the body of the memoir. 



Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society. Published quar- 

 terly. 8vo. Longman and Co., and Williams and Norgate, London. Vol. I. 

 No. IV. March, 1857. 



Zoology.— (Walker) Catalogue of the Homopterous Insects collected at 

 Sarawak, Borneo, by Mr. A. R. Wallace, with descriptions of New species ; 

 with two plates— p. 141-175. Another rich contribution to the Natural History 

 of the Indian Archipelago, from the same source which has already opened the 

 Entomological fauna of Malacca and the islands of the Straits to our knowledge. 

 One hundred and forty-five new species are described, while only thirty-nine of 

 the whole number collected have been previously characterized, and of these not 

 more than one-third by other authors. Seventeen new genera are proposed, nearly 

 all of which are illustrated with figures. These are — of Dictyophorides 3, Leu- 

 saba, Isporisa, Epora ; Cixioides 4, Bidis, Ostama, Erana, Rhotala ; Issites 1, 

 Hiracia; Flatoides 7, Benna, Serida, Paricana, Nicerta, Eucarpia, Rhotana, 

 Ficarasa; Aphrophorides 1, Amarusa; Scarides 1, Isaca. Most of these 

 new generic names have an unclassical twang ; but we are not well enough 

 acquainted with the Eastern tongues to tell whether the author has borrowed 

 from the Malayan or the Dyak ; according to the precedent set by Amyot, who, 

 having exhausted, it may be presumed, the vein of Pelasgie roots, betook him- 

 self for new combinations to the Sanskrit and Chinese, supplied him at second 

 hand. Index, Contents, &c. — pp. 12. 



Botany.— (Oliver) Note respecting Glandular appendages of the leaves in 

 the autumnal rosettes of Epilobium montanum— p. 190. (Bennett) Descrip- 

 tion of the Kobo tree, Guibourtia copallifera^ a new genus of Leguminosae, col- 



