180 DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF QUERCUS AND CASTANEA: 
for I believe synthesis as well as analysis may be carried to excess, and 
think the via media is also the via tutissima,—yet I am very far from 
considering these marks as sufficient to establish a title to generic rank, 
and particularly when the variety and gradations of structure in Oak 
involueres are borne in mind. This alternative, however, might be 
acceptable to those who, to use Mr. Bentham’s words, hold the ** prin- 
ciple that the lowest definable group above a species isa genus.” But 
in this case it would be scarcely consistent to leave Quercus as it stands ; 
for other species have as much, or rather as little, claim to such a 
distinction. 
3. It may be referred to Castanea —From the preceding discussion 
it will be apparent that this is the view held by myself, so much does 
the cotyledonar structure outweigh in my judgment the points of agree- 
ment between Champion’s plant and certain Oaks. Other plans for 
the delimitation of the two genera might, of course, be adopted ; for 
instance, all the capsuliform species might be placed in Castanea, irre- 
spective of other characters, or it might be restricted to those with | 
regular valvular dehiscence; but these arrangements would be open. to 
the same objections as those adopted by Mr. Bentham. Indeed, if we 
are to consult nature, I see no alternative between the reception of the 
view I am advocating and the combination of the two genera, which 
seem to me more correctly kept apart.* 
While I am writing on a Hongkong Cupulifer, I may take the oppor- 
tunity of stating that Q. Hancei, Benth., of which I discovered the 
fruit at the close of last summer, belongs to the Cyclobalani, not to the 
Lepidobalani, where it is referred in the * Flora Hongkongensis ;’ and I 
would also note that the tomentum with which the under surface of 
the leaves of Q. Championi, Benth., is so densely clothed, is formed of 
curious pale straw-coloured stellate hairs, with the centre where the rays 
converge of a deep yellow, and glandular. 
I append a few brief observations on some Corylaceous genera, in the 
delimitation and admission or rejection of which Mr. Bentham’s ad- 
mirable remarks on carpological differences, above quoted, should be 
steadily kept in view. ' 
* “Le Quercus fissa, Bot. Herald, tab. 92, rentre dans les Quercus, en admettant 
ma division. Certainement il n'a ni le fruit échiné, ni les styles nombreux des Casta- 
nea." —Alphonse de Candolle, ; 5 
