356 FTJETHEE NOTES ON EBENACE^. 



Mauritius ; if not this species, it must be L. Kahi, L.f., or D. discolor^ 

 Willd. 



Dr. Eug. Warming, in his *' Symbolas ad floram Erasilice centralis 

 cognoscendam," particula xviii., p. 66, which was published at 

 Copenhagen last year, gives with description a new variety, camporum, 

 of the Brazilian species Biospyros hispida, Alph. DC. ; it differs from 

 the type of the species by larger, obovate, far more rigid, and rather 

 more glossy leaves, which measure 4-8 by 2-4f in., and are wedge- 

 shaped at base, and by somewhat larger flowers, as well as by the 

 habit which is peculiar to the trees and shrubs of the campos, where it 

 forms a complete parallel to the typical D. Impida of the forests. It 

 was found sparsely at Lagoa Santa, in the province of Minas Geraes ; 

 also at Fiedade dos Geraes and elsewhere in Brazil. 



On page 267 of the Monograph, n. 164, Diospyros platy calyx. 

 Hiem, was localised in the Seychelles Island. This was done on the 

 authority of the ticket belonging to the plant in the Kew Herba- 

 rium ; but now I have reason to believe that the true habitation of 

 the plant is Madagascar. 



But, in relation to the recent publication of new specific names, 

 the most prolific part of the Order depends on fossils, which are in 

 most cases limited to leaves or fragments of them, and on which 

 palaeontologists rely for the characters of their species. In my 

 paper on the value of the determinations of fossils referred 

 to the genus Liosp^jros and to allied genera, which was read at the 

 International Botanical Congress held at Florence in' May, 1874, five 

 species referred to Diospyros, not noted in the Monograph, were taken 

 account of; and since that time the three following additional ones 

 come to require notice. 



D. Horneri, Heer, Foss. Pfl. Sumatra, p. 14, n. 6, t. iii., f. 2 

 (1874), from Sumatra, known only from a leaf, is compared with the 

 recent East Indian species D. amcena, Wall., and differs from the fossil 

 /). palceogcea, Ett., by its obtuse leaf-base. 



D. mnbigua, Lesqx., Cret. El., p. 89, t. 6, f. 6, [neque Yent. nee 

 Sap.], as corrected in the Errata at the end of the volume from D. 

 anceps, Lesqx. [non Heer] (1874), known only from two fragments 

 of leaves, is the Quercus anceps, Lesqx., in " American Journal of 

 Science and Arts,"xlvi., p. 96(1868), and its reference is declared by 

 the author to be still uncertain, and indeed the genus Launis is with 

 doubt suggested for it. 



^ I), rotimdifolia, Lesqx., Cret. EL, p. 89, t. 30, f. 1 (1874), non 

 Hiern, known only from a portion of a leaf, is compared to the recent 

 Brazilian species D. coccolohce folia, Mart. The two last fossils 

 occurred in the Cretaceous beds of Nebraska and Western Kansas 

 respectively, in North America. 



By way of illustration of the unsatisfactory state of fossil botany, 

 the following passage may be extracted from Lesquereux's book just 

 quoted, pages 42-43 :—" It is not possible to attach any importance to 

 priority of nomenclature of so-called species of fossil plants, as long 

 as they are known from mere descriptions. The analogy, not to say 

 the specification, of fossil leaves is uncertain enough when the 

 descriptions are illustrated with carefully made drawings or figures 

 which clearly define the essential cliaracters, the outline or general 



