




| et, 12, 1871 | 
above, but these were only few in number. The Interna- 
tional Exhibition in 1862 contained, in the department 
devoted to the products of the French colonies, a small 
series of the birds of Martinique, exhibited by M. Bélanger, 
Director of the Botanical Garden of St. Pierre, in that 
island.* This is all the published information I have 
been able to find concerning the birds of Martinique.} 
12. S¢. Lucta.—Of this island I believe there is no pub- 
lished ornithological information whatever. The little 
knowledge of its avifauna which I possess is derived from 
two sources : first, a few specimens in the Paris Museum 
obtained by, Bonnecourt, a French collector, who visited 
the island in 1850 and 1851 on his way to Central America ; 
and, secondly, a small series of unpublished coloured 
drawings in the library of the Zoological Society by Lieut. 
Tyler, who formerly contributed to the “ Proceedings” 
some notes on the reptiles of thatisland.{ These drawings 
although rough and unfinished, are characteristic and 
mostly recognisable, 
13. S¢. Vencent.—St. Vincent was formerly the residence 
of an energetic and most observant naturalist, the Rev. 
Lansdown Guilding, F.L.S., who, however, unfortunately 
died at an early age in this island without having carried 
out his plans for a fauna of the West Indies. 
_ Mr. Guilding paid most attention to the invertebrate 
animals, but his collection contained a certain number of 
‘birds, amongst which was a new parrot, described after 
his decease by Mr. Vigors as Psittacus Guildingti, and 
“probably a native of St. Vincent. 
14. Grenada and the Grenadines.—Of the special or- 
-nithology of this group nothing is known. 
__ 15. &arbados.—The sole authority upon the birds of 
‘Barbados is Sir R. Schomburgk’s well-known work on 
that island. || This contains (p. 681) a list of the birds 
‘met with, accompanied by some few remarks. It does 
not, however, appear that birds attracted much of the 
author’s attention, and more copious notes would be 
highly desirable. 
Although Tobago and Trinidad are geographically 
reckoned in the Windward division of the Lesser Antilles, 
they have zoologically, I believe, nothing whatever to do 
with them. Both have been peopled with life from the 
adjacent mainland ; or, if in the case of Tobago this was 
ot originally the case, it has been overrun with conti- 
nental species, and, as well as Trinidad, now presents few, 
if any, traces of Antillean ferms. Of the ornithology of 
both of these islands we have excellent accounts ; of that of 
Tobago by Sir William Jardine,** from the collections of 
Mr. Kirk ; and of that of Trinidad more recently from 
the pens of Dr. Léotaud ++ and Dr. Finsch.tt 
P, L. SCLATER 
F 

REMARKS ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF 
FRUITS 
EACHERS and students alike must feel grateful to 
Dr. Dickson for his “Suggestions on Fruit Clas- 
sification.” The number of names applied to varieties of 
fruit renders the study most laborious ; and as many of 
the varieties are closely related, the useless names ought 
at once to be got rid of One thing strikes me as 
being a defect in Prof. Dickson’s classification, and that 
is the employment of certain of the terms in two different 
ways. For example he uses the terms Achzene, Berry, 
* See article on Ornithology in the International Exhibition, 74s, 1862, 
p. 288. 
+ On animals formerly living in Martinique, but now extinct, see Guyon, 
Compt. Rend. Ixiii., p. 589 (1866) - 
tT See P.Z.S. 1849 and 1850. 
§ See his sketch of his plans, ‘Zool. Journ.,” ii. p. 437- 
|| ‘‘ History of Barbados.” London, 1847. 
** Annals of Nat. Hist., vols. xviil., xix., xx. (1846-47). 
++ Oiseaux de l’ile de la Trinidad, Port of Spain, 1866. 
tt See Proc, Zool. Soc., 1870, p. 552. 
He died in 1832. 
NATURE 
{ 


475 
and Drupe, in a broad and in a restricted sense. In a 
broad sense as the name of the gezus, if one may so 
speak, and again uses the same word as a trivial name— 
a species as it were of the genus. The same isalso true of 
his group of capsules, only he thinks a new name might 
be given to the fruits generally called capsules. It is un- 
fortunate that four out of his five groups should be open 
to such an objection, and every teacher will at once be 
able to appreciate the difficulty which the student must 
have when the same word is used both in a broad and in 
a restricted sense. The term Schizocarp seems to be a 
very admirable one, and I do not think the terminology 
of fruits would be in any way burdened if a few more re- 
sembling it were used, It is not without a very great 
deal of hesitation that I venture to suggest that new 
terms should be applied to Dr. Dickson’s four groups, 
Capsule, Achzene, Berry, and Drupe. I think that it is 
much less objectionable to introduce a few more terms, if 
distinctive and apposite, than resort to the difficult, and 
at all times confusing, expedient of using these words 
in a double sense. Taking the word Schizocarp as a 
type, I venture to suggest the term Achzenocarp for the 
group of Achaenes as used by Dr. Dickson, thus avoiding 
all confusion, and allowing the term Achzene to remain in 
its restricted sense. Regmacarp I would apply to the 
group of capsules, using the term capsule for one division 
of the group. Pyrenocarp seems applicable to the drupes, 
and Coccocarp to the berries. The derivation of these 
terms at once explains their application. Achzenocarp, 
from a, privative; chazvo, I open; and farfos, fruit. 
Regmacarp from vega, a rupture, in allusion to the 
dehiscence. Pyrenocarp from fyren, the stone of the 
fruit ; and Coccocarp from sokkos, a berry. In using 
these terms I would employ them in the following man- 
ner :— 
I, Dry Indehiscent Fruits. 
1. Achznocarps. Carpels one or few-seeded. 
A. Glans. Pericarp hard and thick. 
B. Achzne. Pericarp thin. Including the varieties 
Caryopsis and Cypsela. 
2. Schizocarps. Carpels breaking up into indehiscent 

portions. 
A. Carcerulus. Breaking longitudinally, no forked 
carpophore. 
B. Cremocarp. Breaking longitudinally, a forked 
carpophore, 
C. Lomentum. Breaking transversely. 
D. Dischisma. Breaking longitudinally, and then 
transversely. Fruit of Platystemon, The term, 
which is new, is derived from ds and schisma,a 
division. 
II. Dry Dehiscent Fruits. 
3. Regmacarps. 
A. Follicle. Simple, dehisces by one suture. 
B. Legume. Simple, dehisces by both sutures. 
C, Capsule. Compound, dehisces longitudinally, 
transversely, or by pores. 
D. Regma. Compound, dehisces by rupture along 
inner angle of lobes. 
III. Succulent Indehiscent Fruits. 
4. Pyrenocarps. Endocarp indurated. 
A. Drupe. One stone, simple or plurilocular. 
B. Pome. Two or more-stoned, ovary superior or 
inferior. 
5. Coccocarps. Seeds ina pulp. 
A. Uva. Ovary superior, thick or thin skinned. 
B. Bacca. Ovary inferior, thick or thin skinned. 
IV. Succulent Dehiscent Fruits, 
A. Succulent Capsule. ¢,g., A2sculus, Balsamina. 
B. Dehiscent Drupe. ¢.g., Walnut. 
C. Dehiscent Berry. eg., Nutmeg, Squirting Cu- 
cumber, Vuphar advena. 
W. R. McNas 
