2 5 o NATURAL SCIENCE. Oct., 



known as an authority on the subject, and the notes are a valuable 

 addition to the work he has already published on Conifers and Taxads. 

 The orders, tribes, and genera are carefully defined, and the history 

 of each genus as well as the morphology of the vegetative and repro- 

 ductive organs is discussed. Constant reference is made to the 

 schemes of arrangement of the older writers, and, more recently, of 

 Eichler, Van Tieghem, and others, but, in the main, the author has 

 followed Bentham's plan, as elaborated in the " Genera Plantarum." 

 Several deviations from the last arrangement claim to be " more in 

 harmony with ascertained facts, or with more recently-acquired 

 information." Thus, the Oriental genus Cephalotaxns, which Bentham 

 places among the Taxodineae, forms with Gingko and Torreya a distinct 

 tribe, Salisburineae, of Taxads. The drupe-like seed, and the 

 germination, recall those of Gingko, and another point which separates 

 both from all other Conifers is the presence of a resin-canal in the 

 centre of the pith, observed by Van Tieghem. That author is also 

 responsible for the genus Stacliycarpus, a name originally proposed by 

 Endlicher for a section of Podocarpus, to include those species where 

 the peduncle does not become fleshy. The characteristic of the new 

 genus is the arrangement of the fruits on a loose spike, the axis of 

 which does not become fleshy. There are also distinctions in minute 

 structure. 



An important deviation from Bentham's arrangement is the 

 splitting of thegenus Callitris. In the " Genera Plantarum "this includes 

 a species from North Africa, a few from Southern and Tropical Africa, 

 and a number from Australia. Dr. Masters separates the North African 

 plant as a new genus Tetmclinis, distinguished by its flattened (not 

 triangular) Salicornia-like branches, and its solitary female cones, the 

 axis of which is not prolonged beyond the four scales. Endlicher's 

 Widdringtonia is revived for the other African and Madagascar species 

 with angular branches, panicled female cones, and four unequal scales, 

 while Callitris is reserved for the Australian species, the genus Frenela 

 of Mirbel differing from Widdringtonia in having six scales in the 

 female cone. Another genus of Endlicher, Glyptostvobus, included by 

 Bentham, following Brongniart, in Taxodium, is restored. 



In the tribe Abietineae, which includes the spruces, cedar, larches, 

 firs, pines, and their allies, Dr. Masters recognises the same genera 

 as Bentham, except that Carriere's Ketelccria is revived on the ground 

 of Professor Pirotta's recent observations on the male flowers and 

 other remarkable characteristics. It contains, besides the original 

 Abies Fortunei, a few other Chinese species. 



The paper concludes with an account of the geographical 

 distribution of the genera. China and Japan are remarkable for 

 the number and variety of their Taxads and Conifers ; two 

 genera Pseudolarix and Ketelccria are confined to China, Cunning- 

 hamia extends to Cochin China, while Gingko is of Chinese 

 origin, but widely cultivated in Japan. Sciadopitys is exclusively 



