NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 45 



plant with the corolla fallen, collected somewhere in the mountains 

 of North Carolina about one hundi-ed years ago ; and in 1842 he 

 founded on it the genus Shortia. Since then all endeavours at 

 rediscovery have been in vain, and the very existence of the plant 

 has been doubted. But now at length a flowering specimen has 

 been sent by Mr. Hyams, of Statesville, gathered in McDowell 

 County, North Carolina, in May, 1877. Dr. Gray determined in 

 1868 that Schizocodo7i uniflorus, Maxim., of Japan, of which also 

 the corolla was unknown, was probably congeneric, and in 1870 he 

 ventured to place Galax and Shortia together as a tribe of Diapen- 

 siacecB. Maximowicz, in 1871, decided the two genera Shortia and 

 Schizocodon to be distinct, founding his views to a considerable 

 extent on a rough Japanese figure of the flower-details. Dr. Gray 

 is now able to confirm this, and gives, in ' Silliman's Journal ' for 

 December last (p. 484), some details of the floral structure of the 

 North Carolina species, which correct those given by Maximowicz 

 and by the authors of the ' Genera Plantarum.' 



Extirpation of a Cycad. — The Coontie, Zamia integrifolia, 

 Willd., extends in Florida as far north as Alachua, Bradford, and 

 adjoining counties, and was at one time most abundant. Though 

 still common in Southern Florida it is now comparatively rarely 

 met with in the districts above-mentioned, and has totally dis- 

 appeared over large tracts. Mr. H. Gillman, in the 'American 

 Naturalist ' for December (p. 818), traces this destruction to the 

 practice in Florida of allowing hogs to roam at large. These 

 animals ravenously devour the Zamia for the sake of the starch in 

 the caudex (from which the coarser Florida arrowroot is made). As 

 the State becomes more thickly settled it is probable that, except 

 where taken into cultivation, this handsome plant will become 

 totally extirpated. 



Notices of Boolts anlf iWtmotrs. 



ON SOME POINTS IN BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE. 



[The following remarks are extracted from the very valuable 

 and interesting memoir by Mr. Bentham, entitled 'Notes on 

 Euphorhiaceo'.,' in the last number of the ' Journal of the Linnean 

 Society.' They express with clearness and accuracy the views 

 supported in the Journal of Botany by several botanists, including 

 the Editor, who is desh'ous that their great authority and weight 

 should be brought to bear upon the discussion lately carried on in 

 these pages.] 



" Were every one agreed as to the plant to be designated by a 

 particular name, the binomial appellations devised by Linnaeus 

 would be quite sufficient in all cases where a species is referred 

 to for comparison, or is otherwise spoken of, as in catalogues, 

 treatises, &c.; and even now the reference to Helianthus anniius, 



