hislitute of France, 31 1 



^res? of these vessels in the Amarunlacece, according to M. St. 

 Hilaire; but this observer has remarked that in most of the 

 plants of the class at present under his observation, and particu- 

 larlv in the Primvlacefe. the Porlulacece, and the CunjopkyllecB, 

 the fecundation is produced in a more direct way ; and for this 

 purpose there exist ori^nally very slender vessels proceeding 

 from the basis of the style to the summit of the placenta. These 

 threads are de^troved after fecundation, and it is then only that 

 the summit of the placenta becomes free. 



>[. St. Hilaire aho adopts, as constant, the existence of a 

 point or of a pore different from the umbilicus, by which the 

 fecimdating vessels arrive at the grain, and to which M. Turpin, 

 as mentioned in a preceding report, has given the name of mi- 

 cropilis. 



the purelv botanical part of M. St. Hilaire's memoir pre- 

 sents manv observations in detail, unfortunately very little sus- 

 ceptible ot analv^is, on the particular characters of certain plants 

 of the families which he has exanjined, some of which seemed 

 to him to serve as the tvpes for new genera, and others ought to 

 pass into families different from that in which certain imperfect 

 observations had hitherto placed them. 



The pisang, banana, or fig-tree of Adam is a herbaceous 

 plant, of the height of a tree, very remarkable by the enormous 

 extent of its leaves, and celebrated for the utility of its fruits, 

 which furnish the inhabitants of the torrid zone with one of the 

 principal articles of their food. Cultivation has multiplied its 

 varieties to such an extent, that there are as many kinds of it as 

 of apple or pear trees. 



M. Desvaux, who has collected all that has heen wTitten on 

 the banana, has reckoned fortv-four varieties in the common 

 specie*;, or the mu'ia paradisiaca oi Linnaeus, and three spec.es 

 distinct from that ■: \-iz. the mu-;a uipientiim Linn., the muiU 

 coccifiea no^v ([uite common in Europe, and the eusele de- 

 scribed bv Bruce in his Tr.iveh. 



The fig-tree has undergone •*till more numerous modifications 

 in thehan Is of cultivators. Marquis Suifrein, w^h.t) resides in Pro- 

 vence, which is so famous for its tigs, has taken the trouble to 

 enlighten cultivators a** to the true method of bringing the fig- 

 tree to perfection. He has already made knouT. 162 varieties, 

 and his researdies are not yet terminated. 



M. Thiebaut de Eerneaux, who purposes to give a French 

 translation of the works of Theophrastus, and who, in order to as- 

 certain with more accuracy the vegetables mentioned by this 

 celebrated successor of .\ristotle, has performed several journeys 

 in tlie countries where these vegetables grow, and has presented 

 to the Class some of the results already obtained, not only in the 



\j 4 ■ species 



