Miscellaneous. 463 
in the latter the teeth are so faintly marked that it is not always easy 
to recognize this peculiarity. When this double direction exists in 
a leaf, the extreme veins, which are the shortest, are straight, and 
clearly terminate in a tooth, just as the central vein terminates in 
the tooth of the extremity of the leaf. The other veins are curved 
near the tooth in such a manner that the nearer we approach the base 
of the leaf the more do the veins correspond (or appear to corre- 
spond) with the notches. The organogeny of the leaf would pro- 
bably show that at first the veins of these species all answer to teeth, 
and that the growth of tissue alone has caused them to deviate, ex- 
cept at the extremity, where the leaf is less enlarged. 
The direction of the veins furnishes, however, a good character 
for distinguishing the Japanese Fagus Sieboldii and the F’. ferruginea 
(F. sylvestris, Mirb.) from the European F. sylvatica. Linnzeus 
regarded the North American Beech as belonging to the European 
species, and in this he has been followed by some modern botanists. 
Mr. Bromfield, who has carefully observed the American species, 
admits the specific difference of the two Beeches (Hooker’s Journal 
of Botany, 1849, p. 112); but he has not noticed the difference of 
the venation, which corroborates the other characters. In the North 
American Beech, as in the Japanese species, all the lateral veins 
evidently correspond in a straight line with the teeth, which are 
always distinct and well-marked. In the European Beech the teeth 
are less distinct, and often become mere undulations ; and the veins 
are directed rather towards the notches, or at least become curved 
near the teeth, with the exception of those of the apex of the leaf. 
The species which have all the lateral veins directed towards the 
teeth are, besides F’. Steboldii and F. ferruginea already mentioned, 
F. obliqua, Mirb., F. Dombeyi, Mirb., F. fusca, Hook., and F. 
Cunninghamii, Hook. Those in which all the lateral veins tend 
towards the sinuses are Ff’. antarctica, Forst., and F. Gunnii, Hook. 
Those in which the majority of the veins are directed towards the 
sinuses are F’. sylvatica, F. alpina, Popp. & Endl., and F’. procera, 
Popp. & Endl. Lastly, in some species, which complete the genus, 
the teeth are wanting or very indistinct, or the veins are much at- 
tenuated, and sometimes the secondary ones become confounded 
with the tertiaries in a complicated network ; in all these cases the 
direction cannot be readily ascertained. This applies especially to 
F. Solandri, Hook., and F’. cliffortioides, Hook., from New Zealand, 
the leaves of which are entire. 
The two species in which the veins most evidently alternate with 
the teeth (F". antarctica and F. Gunnit) belong to the section of the 
genus that includes those in which all the veins terminate in teeth, 
such as F’. Sieboldii and F. obliqua, as well as our European Beech ; 
these have the young leaf folded, in the bud, on each lateral vein. 
The direction of the veins is therefore a purely specific character ; 
and this should warn paleontologists not to lay too much stress 
upon the details of venation as indicative of genera. Nevertheless 
the direction of the veins relatively to the teeth or sinuses deserves 
mention in the specific characters, especially of fossil species. 
