70 
a century is suggested by the lists on page 77, showing eighteen 
genera in seven systems. 
In the Sympetalae parietal placentation is the exception, but is 
the rule in Gentianaceac. Evacum affine of this family, in flower 
in our conservatories, gave an opportunity to examine the bud 
which shows parietal placentation ; it is axile in the adult. 
Through the courtesy of Miss Harlow, of the New York Bo- 
tanical Garden, I was enabled to examine for some time Payer’s 
Organogenie de la fleur, Paris 1857. From his figures it is evident 
he observed nearly eighty years ago that parietal placentation 
usually precedes axile placentation in the flower bud. It is of 
interest that Hutchinson in the classification of Monocotyledons 
begins with those having parietal placentation. 
— 
SYSTEMATIC BoTANY 
By Henry Kk. SvENSON 
The report on phanerogamic plants of the Astor Expedition 
was published in February (see list of publications, p. 153); the 
treatment of ferns, which is almost as extensive, is nearly ¢om- 
plete as to manuscript, and the plates for illustration are fully 
drawn. In this paper I shall take up the relationship of the fern 
flora of the Galapagos Islands to that of the South American 
mainland with more detail than was possible with the heterogene- 
ous groups of seed plants. 
Another installment of the genus Eleocharis, covering all North 
American and West Indian species in groups not previously treated 
(with the exception of the £. palustris group), is almost complete. 
As in all extensive groups, the work of description is much more 
tedious and difficult than one bargains for at t 
— 
1e beginning, but the 
interesting generalizations to be derived on the subject of plant 
geography and the relationship of species, make the labor well 
worth while. 

Work on plants of the local region has been continued, em- 
bodied to some extent in the paper on the vegetation of the tidal 
shores of the Hudson River. A large part of my time during the 
winter has been occupied with identifications and studies on the 
plants recently collected by me in the southern states. 
