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PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



the characters of that tribe. In the Old World the only group cor- 

 responding to the Milleee is found in the Agapanthece of the Cape of 

 Good Hope. 



The genus Leucocrinum and the little known Mexican Weldenia 

 form an anomalous tribe, which resembles, and not very remotely, the 

 Massoniece of the Cape. 



The Hyacinthem and Scillece (hardly separable as tribes) are limited 

 almost entirely to Europe (with Western Asia) and Africa, two thirds 

 of the 365 species being African. A half-dozen species are found in 

 the East Indies, while in the New World these tribes are represented 

 in the northern continent only by the two species of Camassia, and in 

 Chili by a single species, referred to Ornithogalum, but probably dis- 

 tinct. As concerns these American species, the one character of a 

 scapose raceme should not separate them from the Phalangiece. 



Of the other tribes (or subtribes) having a racemose-paniculate 

 inflorescence and capsular fruit, the Asphodelece alone (with 40 species) 

 are confined to the Mediterranean region and Western Asia, with a 

 single genus and species in China and Japan. The remainder, the 

 Phalangiece, Conantherece, Eriospermece, Chlorophytece and Ccesiece, 

 belong on the other hand as exclusively to Africa and Australia, but 

 are represented by a considerable number of small genera in the 

 western and warmer portions of North and South America. One 

 genus, Schamolirion, is peculiar to the Southern Atlantic and Gulf 

 States. The Californian species hitherto united with it is here sepa- 

 rated under a genus dedicated to Hon. S. Clinton Hastings of San 

 Francisco, whose active interest and generous liberality in behalf of the 

 " Botany of California" deserve at least this recognition. The chiefly 

 African genus Anthericum, as extended by Mr. Baker, is doubtless too 

 comprehensive, and the Mexican species referred by him to the sub- 

 genus Hesperanth.es seem to be sufficiently well characterized to form 

 a distinct genus. Several white-flowered species of Mexico and South 

 America are also referred by him to Anthericum ; the imperfect ma- 

 terial at hand does not authorize any other disposal of them, as is 

 moreover the case with the two South American species of Chloro- 

 phyton, a similar large African genus with a few representatives in 

 Australia and India. The Californian Odontostomum is very anom- 

 alous in its characters. 



Of the baccato-capsular tribes, the Convallariece (50 species) belong 

 to the whole northern temperate zone, and especially to Asia, only 

 Smilacina extending southward into the tropics of America, In 

 Eastern Asia are also found the small allied groups Liriopece and 



