Botany and Zoology. 283 



ture, and appear then of little more consequence than the foliaceous wino^s 

 or appendages on the branches, inflorescences, or calyx-tubes. So also 

 the form of the membranous expansions of samaroid fruits, the consist- 

 ence of pericarps, the number and arrangement on the calyx and other 

 foliaceous appendages of the oleaginous deposits, called transparent glands 

 m LeguTfiinosce^ Hyiyericinece^ &c., or vittoe in Umbelliferce, useful as they 

 all may be in certain cases, as indicative of general organic differences, 

 have yet J9(?r 56 but little absolute value in classification. This absolute 

 reliance^ in supposed conformity to general principles, upon such charac- 

 ters, even when unaccompanied by any other differences, is one of the 

 sources whence botanical science is daily inundated by torrents of new 

 # genera, w^hich threaten ere long completely to drown all system. Where 

 the presence or absence of these appendages or glands, or any peculiarity 

 in their arrangement, appears to be consequent upon a general difference 

 in the plan of the fruit or in the habit of the plant, or is accompanied 

 by corresponding characters in other organs, it should be carefully attend- 

 ed to. But where one or more species of a natural genus differ from the 

 rest by some such external peculiarity in the development of the fruit 

 alone, it seems against all principles laid down for a natural method, to 

 tate that peculiarity as a generic character, merely because it is a carpo- 

 logical one." 



Another point brought to view is the until now unsuspectedly wide 

 range of our Clitoria Mariana^ which on the one hand extends from New 

 Jersey to southern Mexico, while on the other it reappears in eastern India, 

 viz. iu the Khasiya mountains and Tavoy ;^an interesting and unex- 

 pected addition to the list of such species recently published in this Jour- 

 nal. The writer adds that a Himalayan Amphicarpoea is so closely allied 

 to our North American species, that the difference would probably vanish 

 in a fuller suite of specimens. There is another Indian and Javan species 

 of the same North American type : — " a fact which calls to mind^ how 

 frequently large American genera (such as Eupatorium^ Aster, SoUdago^ 

 Solanum, &c.) are represented in Eastern Asia by a small number of spe- 

 cies, which gradually diminish or disappear altogether as we proceed 

 westward towards the Atlantic limits of Europe ; whilst the tjrpes pecu- 

 liar to the extreme west of Europe (excluding of course the Arctic flora) 

 are wholly deficient in America. These are among the considerations 

 ^vhich suggest an ancient continuity of territory between America^ and 

 Asia under a latitude, or at any ra'te with a climate, more meridional 

 than would be effected by a junction through the chains of the Aleutian 



and Kurile Islands." 



Prcectirsores ad Florarn Indicam; by Drs. Hooker and Thomsgj^. 

 Tliis is the first of a series of promised articles, which must for the pres- 

 ent take the place of a continuation of the Flora Indica: it comprises 

 the Indian Stglidiea^ (3 species), Goodenoview (2 species), and Campami- 

 ^«<^^cp, the latter includinir Lobeliacem as a tribe. There is no denying 

 that this union is made on correct principles. But Solanacm should be 

 combined with Scropkulariacem on the same grounds, as they probably 

 would have been except for the great size of these families. Dr, Hooker 

 lias noticed dimorphous flowers in some species of Campanula, the abnor- 

 inal ones being minute and ^^ destitute of corolla and stamens" [?];— an 

 interesting observation, but less novel than he supposes. For Linnreus 

 {ffort. Ups. p. 40, so described the flowers of Campanula {Specularia) per- 



