DR. HOOKER ON WELWITSCHIA. 151 



Here we must abruptly close our long exposition of a paper 

 which, from the scientific position, ability, and impartiality of 

 its author, is likely at this time to produce a marked impres- 

 sion. We would also direct attention to an earlier article in 

 the same important periodical (namely, in the " Bibliotheque 

 Universelle " for May, 1862), on the European Flora and the 

 Configuration of Continents in the Tertiary Epoch, a most 

 interesting abstract of, and commentary on, the introductory 

 part of Heer's " Flora Tertiaria Helvetise," as reedited and 

 translated into the French by Gaudin, with additions by the 

 author. 



DR. HOOKER ON WELWITSCHIA. 



This is a separate issue, in folio form, of a memoir ^ in the 

 current (24) volume of the Transactions of the Linnaean 

 Society of London, illustrated by fourteen superb and elabo- 

 rate plates, the expense of which has been mainly defrayed by 

 the Royal Society, from a parliamentary fund placed at its 

 disposal for the promotion of scientific research. By the co- 

 operation of these two learned societies, the fruits of Dr. 

 Hooker's admirable researches are given to the scientific 

 world in a form and manner worthy of them and of the won- 

 derful subject. 



A good idea of the vegetable wonder in question is given in 

 the following brief account of its appearance and prominent 

 characters, drawn partly from the descriptions of its discoverer, 

 and partly from specimens sent to England : — 



" The Welwitschia is a woody plant, said to attain a century 

 in duration, with an obconic trunk about two feet long, of 

 which a few inches rise above the soil, presenting the appear- 

 ance of a flat, two-lobed depressed mass, sometimes (according 

 to Dr. Welwitsch) attaining fourteen feet in circumference (!), 

 and looking like a round table. When full grown it is dark 

 brown, hard, and cracked over the whole surface (much like 



1 On the Welwitschia^ a new genus of Gnetacece. By Joseph Dalton 

 Hooker. (American Journal of Science and Arts, 2 ser., xxxvi. 434.) 



