250 REVIEWS. 



always dioecious, and with dull-colored perianth, the pollen is 

 papillose as in most entomophilous flowers ; but that Rhipo- 

 gouum, the only hermaphrodite genus, has a smoothish pollen, 

 more like that transportable by the winds. Most have odor- 

 ous blossoms, some pleasantly, some the reverse. De Can- 

 dolle asks w^iether in our Coprosmanthus (the name of which 

 indicates the ill odor) this is common to both sexes and the 

 same in both. Can any of our readers speak to this ? An 

 exposition of the geographical distribution of the order, and 

 of what is known of it in a fossil state, is followed by a state- 

 ment that all the four natural sections of Smilax and the two 

 other genera — i. <?., all the types of the order — coexist in the 

 comparatively small area comprised between the north of New 

 Holland, the Fiji Islands, the Sandwich Islands, and Japan ; 

 that India has four of these six types. New HoUand three. 

 North America two, all Europe and Africa one ; South Amer- 

 ica only one, but is rich in species. The speculative inference 

 is, that, anterior to the eocene formations of Europe, the 

 ancestors of the family occupied a continent situated in the 

 region above indicated, of which the most ancient form was 

 probably monoecious, gamosepalous, apetalous, monadelphous, 

 and with more or less volatile pollen, — in short was like He- 

 terosmilax ; that this ancestor w^as in that region diversified, 

 giving origin to the five other groups, beginning with Eu- 

 smilax, the widest diffused and most numerous in species, 

 and finishing with Rhipogonum, which with Heterosmilax 

 has clung to its birthplace. The sole Californian Smilax is 

 referred, as a variety, to S. rotnndifolia., but is nearer S. 

 Mspida^ although distinct from both. 



Vol. V. Pars secunda : Ampelidece ; by J. E. Planchon, has 

 at length appeared. It occupies 350 pages ; and it represents 

 a great amount of labor, the permanent value and complete 

 acceptance of which cannot be adjudicated off-hand. The 

 plan of merging all the forms into one genus, Yitis, has been 

 abundantly tried, not with very satisfactory results, — partly, 

 it may be, because the groups have not been well worked 

 out. Professor Planchon, a most experienced and keen bot- 

 anist, who has especially investigated the Vines for a good 



