380 EXTRACTS AND ABSTKACTS. 



rule, the new shoot stands in the axil of the penultimate leaf below 

 llu! sputhe ; in Acorns and Orontium, however, it arises from the ulti- 

 mate leaf. 



Sometimes inferior leaves (niedorblatter) alternate with foliage 

 leaves — eg., when a new slioot is a continuation of the axis of the pri- 

 mary one, if the latter bore foliage leaves immediately below the spadix, 

 the former produces first a number of inferior leaves followed by foliage 

 leaves {Arum, Ariscema, Caladium marmoratum) ; but if the primary 

 shoot bore inferior leaves below the spadix, the secondary one shows 

 first foliage leaves and then inferior leaves {Sauromatium, Uiarum, 

 Remusatia, &c.). 



Comparison of the ramification of other ^Monocotyledons with 

 Aroids shows that this family is singular in the frequent renewal of 

 foliar development on the flowering-branches, which, outside tlie 

 Order, is found only in Eichornea azurea ; but some similarity is also 

 presented by Zoster a and C'l/madocea. 



Classification. — The Order is divided into three main groups : — 



1. Pothoidc'cc. — Without any prominent peculiarity of their eel- 

 hilar tissue and fibro-vascular bundles ; to this group belong Acorus, 

 Heteropsis, Anthurimn, Lasimorpha, Ci/rtosperma, Lasia, Anaphyllum, 

 Symplocarpus, Pothos, Pothoidium, and Gijnmostachys. 



2. Motisteroideoi. — In which the flowers are bisexual and the 

 leaves usually distichous, but the main character is derived from the 

 presence of numerous H-forraed sclerenchymatous cells ; the group 

 includes Anepsias, Spathiphyllum, Rhaphidophora, Rkodospatha, 

 Atimeta, 3Ionstera, Tornelia, Fpipremnum, Scindapsus, Anodendroti, 

 and Cuscuaria. 



3. AroidecB. — A motley assemblage, containing forms with perfect 

 and imperfect flowers, but characterised by a more or less perfectly 

 developed laticiferous system in the phlcem of the fibro-vascular 

 bundles, and usually on both sides of the bundles. This system, 

 which rarely contains latex, is present in Pistia, but in Lemnea it 

 appears to be wanting. 



Further information concerning the morphological relations of 

 Pistia and Lemnacece proper, as well as the modifications of the repro- 

 ductive parts, must be sought from the paper itself. We shall look 

 .f,ith interest for the figures which Dr. Engler promises to publish. 



Haiet Embetos. 



8ur quelques cas d^emhryons vehis. — Par. M. Cas. De Candollh. 

 (Bull. Eot. Soc. dc France, 1875, p. 229.) — Out of thirty-seven species 

 of Meliacecc examined by JE. De Candolle, seven were found to have 

 hairs on some part of the embryo. Epicharis rosea has a thick mass of 

 notched hairs extending over the plumule, hypocotyledonary axis, and 

 radicle of its embryo ; in the case of E. Lessertiana the hairs are 

 of two kinds, two rows of long imicellular colourless ones run down 

 the back of the primordial leaves as far as the cotyledons, and the 

 gemmule is covered with glandular ones ; a few colourless hairs 

 surround the base of the gemmule in E. polypoda, while in several 

 American species of Trichilia the hairyness is restricted to the hypo- 

 cotyledonary axis ; lastly, Aglaia elieagnoides from Australia has an 



