110 NEW SPIRiBA. 



river Min on their homeward-bound voyage, and observed a 

 number of Foo-chow plants which the sailors were carrying over 

 to Loo-chow, and I have no doubt they also bring Loo-chow and 

 Japan plants to Foo-chow. But whether the shrub in question be 

 a Japanese plant or not, there can be little doubt of its proving 

 perfectly hardy in England, and if it flowers as it has done at 

 Shanghae this spring, I am sure it will be greatly admired. As 

 it flowers early in the year it will probably be well adapted for 

 forcing, and if so, its beautiful wreaths of snow-white blossoms 

 will do well for bouquets or for ornamenting the hair ; for the 

 latter purpose it is much prized by the Chinese ladies at Foo-chow. 



NiNGPO, Aiugmt 14, 1853. 



IX. On the rRICKLY-FETJITED AND DOUBLE-FLOWERED STRAW- 

 BERRIES. By Professor L. C. Treviranus. Read 

 before the Association of Naturalists for the Rhenish 

 Countries and Westphalia in May, 1853. 



(Translated from the German by Dr. Wallicli, F.M.H.S.) 



Not only is the nomenclature of varieties, which are objects 

 of horticulture, a very difficult matter; but their origin and 

 history occupies a very obscure part of vegetable physiology. 

 The complaint of Vilraorin {mhinn. Transact. 2 Ser. II. p. 340) 

 that varieties are too little inquired into, does not affect the 

 botanist. Among a number of genera, the Strawberry is pecu- 

 liarly rich in forms, some of tliem striking and curious. M. 

 Duchesne, an advocate in Paris, who lived during the last half 

 of the past century, and corresponded with the greatest botanists 

 of the time, Haller, Linnaeus, the Jussieus, Lamarck, &c,. 

 devoted his spare time to this genus ; for which he must have 

 enjoyed many favourable opportunities, as Haller says of him, 

 that he was born in " mediis hortis." The fruit of leisure hours 

 was, besides his memoirs on cucumbers and cabbages, his 

 Histoire nahir. des Fraisiers (Paris, 176G), his treatise Sur les 

 Frnisiers (Encycl. Botan. II. 1786), and the article Fraisier in 

 Nouv. Cours(V At/riculture (VI. Paris, 1809). These papers con- 

 tain a great deal of research derived from nature, and form 

 therefore the principal sources of our information respecting the 



