278 Annals of the Sovdh African Museum. 



made with the endemic genus Pteronia, a member of the tribe 

 Aster oideae. 



Mr. Phillips has examined and described the specimens of this genus 

 in the various South African herbaria ; but, as was natural, he found 

 it impossible to complete the work without reference to types in the 

 older collections preserved in Europe, especially the Thunbergian 

 herbarium in Upsala, and the rich material at Kew, Dublin, and the 

 Natural History Museum, South Kensington. Fully appreciating 

 this difficulty, I gladly undertook the completion of the revision of this 

 interesting genus. The specimens worked out by Mr. Phillips were, 

 therefore, forwarded to Kew with the kind permission of Dr. L. 

 Peringuey, Director of the South African Museum, to whom we tender 

 our best thanks. To Dr. Juel, of Upsala, we are very greatly indebted 

 for the loan of Thunberg's type specimens, as also to Prof. Dixon 

 for kindly forwarding the Dublin material ; to Sir David Prain and 

 Dr. Rendle for facilities in the study of the Kew and Natural History 

 Museum specimens respectively, and to Dr. Stapf for friendly criticism 

 and suggestions. 



The genus Pteronia was founded by Linnaeus* in 1760 on a figure 

 published by Plukenetf in 1700. Plukenet's drawing is an excellent 

 representation of P. camphorata, L., which species stands as the type 

 of the genus, and which was first described in Linnaeus' second edition 

 of the Species Plantarum of 1763. 



In 1781 Linnaeus til J published a list of 15 species accompanied by 

 very brief descriptions, mostly of plants collected by Thunberg. 



In 1800 Thunberg § gave a list of 24 species collected by him on his 

 Cape journeys, and in the same year Willdenow || published descrip- 

 tions of 27 species ; three of the latter are now referred to other genera. 



The Schultz edition of Thunberg's Flora Capensis, which appeared 

 in 1823, contains full descriptions of 25 species. 



Little if any attempt at classification of the species is evident 

 in any of the above works, so they may be passed over without further 

 comment. 



In 1836 De Candolle^[ arranged the 63 species recognised by him 

 into three sections as follows : 



* Amoen. Acad. v. No. 48. 



t Plukenet, Mant. 56, t. 345, fig. 56 : 2. 



% Suppl. Plant, pp. 355-358. 



§ Prodr. Fl. Cap. ii. pp. 143-4. 



|| Species Plant, iii. pp. 1176-1182. 



11 DC. Prodr. v. 356-365. 



