3 ( 2 SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 



of the fruit of tlie cycadcre and of tlae coniferpe. This frnit proceeds from a 

 nak-ed ovu5e, witkout ovarium, inserted on au organ analogous to the leaves. 

 To all the arguments wliiek have been advanced with this view, he adds that in 

 certain of the conifers?, such as the podoearpiis, the ovules are anatropous, a 

 mode of development absolutely unknown among ovarinms. He does not hesi- 

 tate to affirm that the gvmnosperms are dicotyledons, and have only external- 

 resemblances of vegetation or aspect to vascular cryptog'ams. M. de Candolle 

 has further shown us (4tla July) the acorns of an oak, a native of California, 

 which jDresent a groove near the edge of the cup, as if they had been compressed 

 by a cord. 



On occasion of the analysis made l\y JI. Alois Humbert of a new work which 

 Mr. Wallace is about to jiublish on the classification of varieties in the animal 

 kingdom, (especially in the genus PapiUo,) M. de Candolle remarked (16th April) 

 that varieties have not been more studied in botany than in zoology. There 

 are not as many which are local among vegetables as amo7ig animals; nevertheless 

 there exists a certain description of forms according to the nativity. A facies, dif- 

 ficult to be defined, will sometimes indicate to a practiced eye the origin of dilFer- 

 cnt plants. We will cite, in the last place, the examination into which M. de 

 Candolle entered (IGth April) of the work of MIM. Perrierand Sangeon on the 

 distribution of species in the Alps of Savo}'. It has been long remarked that 

 certain alpine regions are distinguished by a very poor flora, while at other points 

 it is very abundant, as at Mount Cenis, at the Saint Bernard, at Zermatt, and 

 in the ncighlwring localities, up to the confines of the Valais and of Italy. MM. 

 Perrier and Saugeon attiibute this fact to an anthraciferous geological fomia- 

 tion which bisects the Alps from Mount Cenis, and borders to the south the chain 

 of Mont Blanc, com])rising Cramont, Saint Bernard, &;c. M. de Candolle con- 

 tests the influence wliich the geological formation is capable of exerting on vege- 

 tation. Deposits indeed exercise an influence through their physical and min- 

 eralogical qualities, and that on every species of stratum. The anthraciferous 

 formation is ver^- ancient, and vegetation did not commence until after the glacial 

 period. The great chain must then have been the center of an immense accu- 

 mulation of snow, in the vicinity of which only arctic plants could subsist, lii 

 proportion as the glaciers diminished, the species of the plain ascended, espe- 

 cially on the southern flank. Hence the origin of the vegetable wealth of cer- 

 tain localities, which, therefore, is not to be imputed to the geological formation. 

 Thus it is remarked that the plants to the south pertain to families relativelj 

 more recent in a paleontological point of view ; such are the composites, the 

 campanidacea3, the primulacece, &c., which do not occur among arctic vegetables. 

 Rev. Dr. Duby communicated to us (4th July) the first part of a memoir entitled 

 ''Choix de Cyypiogumes cxotiqucs ou mal conjnics,^' (selection of exotic or little- 

 known crj'ptogams.) He treats therein more particularly of 12 species of mosses, 

 10 of whicli arc new, while two had been hnperfectly described by Schwilgrichen. 

 Five of these species belong to Mexico, one to Uruguay, one to Colombia, one 

 to Patagonia, one to Chili, one to the Cape, one is met with at the Cape and at 

 the Antilles, and a last one at the Antilles and the Mauritius. They are dis- 

 tributed among the genera Campylopus, Orthotrkum, Macromitrium, ScUotlieimia, 

 Fahronia, Hookcria^Hypnum, and a new genus allied to the Macyomitrium, which 

 M. Du])y names MonoscMsma. (See the present volume of the Memoircs de (a 

 Societc.J The same member described (19th March) the new champignons of 

 the family of the lycoperdacea;, which Dr. Westwick has found in the king- 

 doms of Angola and Benguela. They are remarkable for their dimensions, some 

 attaining a demi-meter in height. In these species the seed escape circularly by 

 a series of small holes, while in the species of Europe they issue only b}' a single 

 opening at the top. Dr. Gosse pointed out (5th December) the appearance of 

 female flowers on some male plants ot Dioscorca Z^atato^ cultivated in our canton. 

 Dr. Miiller recounted analogous cases of dioecious plants having become mon- 



