Gelekrte Gesellschaften. 127 



that plant and animal migration has not extended so far in this direction. 

 Mr. Rolfe avers that the great number of Malayan types extant with the 

 Proportion of the endemic species, as well as a considerable boreal and 

 Australian dement , seem to point out that submergence alone will not 

 account for the present peculiarities of distribution. A dominant featm-e in 

 the flora is undoubtedly the Australian and Austro - Mal ayan element. 

 Without here giving the details of his reasoning, Mr. Rolfe 's conclusiona 

 may be summed up as showing: — that the Philippines are truly insular 

 in the essentials of their natural history. This not so much through their 

 being an early Separation of the Asiatic Continent, which has had a dip 

 under the sea , as from their being largely of volcanic , and geologically of 

 somewhat recent origin— to wit, as is presumed to be the case of other 

 Islands of admitted oceanic origin. Mr. Rolfe describes several new species, 

 and a new genus of Rubiaceae, Villaria. 



Torrey Botanical Club New Tork. 



Sitzung am 8. April 1884. 



At the regulär meeting of the Club held Tuesday evening , April 8th, 

 the President oceupied the chaii- and eighteen persons were present. 



After some remarks by the President on the efforts that are being made 

 to save the Adirondack forest, a committee, consisting of the President, Yice- 

 President and Secretary, was appointed to draft resolutions to be presented 

 at the public meeting to be held at Chickering Hall. 



Mr. HoUick read a paper entitled , Notes on the Genus Viola % 

 of which the following is an abstract: 



The Genus Viola : — The changes which most species of the genus Viola 

 undergo in the late summer and autumn months do not seem to have had 

 the attention bestowed upon them that their importance deseryes. The 

 changes are in leaf , stem and flower , and are apparently invariable and 

 constant, hence of considerable value in determining specific differences. 



The following species were coUected and studied during the past year : 

 V. cucullata Ait. . V. sagittata Ait. , V. palmata L. , V. blanda Willd. , V. 

 primulaefolia L., V. lanceolata L., V. odorata L., V. pedata L. and V. canma 

 L. var. sylvestris Regel. — V. cucullata and V. sagittata are connected by 

 every conceivable intermediate form, and V. palmata also connects with the 

 former by insensible gradations. There is one characteristic, however, which 

 can always be depended upon to distinguish V. cucullata and its varieties 

 from the other species, and that is the decumbent habit of the cleistogamous 

 flowers. Indeed, the entii-e growth of this species partakes of the decumbent 

 habit , the rootstock , leaves and flowers being seldom if ever strictly erect. 

 In V. sagittata the growth of the plant is erect from the roots and continues 

 so throughout, and the cleistogamous flowers are conspicuoasly so. 



It is sometimes difficult to know, from superficial appearances, where to 

 place V. palmata, whether as a variety of cucullata or sagittata, but the 

 decumbent habit of the intermediate forms point to the former as the the 

 type. In the young plants of palmata , the palmate and cucuUate leaves 

 may often be seen on the same plant, this being in accordance with the 

 well recognized principle that the typical form is always more manifest in 

 the young individuals of the variety or derived species. 



The three species of white violets are known to be very closely allied. 

 V, primulaefolia and V. lanceolata produce such a variety of intermediate 

 forms that it is an utter impossibility to say definitely where some of them 

 belong. V. blanda, however, is unmistakably distinct, in several particulars. 

 In the autumn , all three of these species produce runners , but no detailed 

 description of the latter seems to have been made. In the entire Torrey 

 herbarium there is but one specimen representing the autumn transformation ! 

 In V. blanda these runners are almost roots , being more or less under the 

 surface of the ground , slender , producing no leaves and bearing no cleisto- 

 gamous flowers. They grow from the main rootstock, are not numerous, and 

 are somewhat decumbent. V. primulaefolia has runners that sometimes reach 



