probably factit 

 jelleut plates of 



brown horny margin, set off by the large light red-brown spines, 

 is thought to be one of the finest of the genus for ornamental cul- 

 tivation. It was discovered by Dr. Parry in 1850, but good 

 specimens only now obtained, and it is appropriately dedicated to 

 the founder of the Missouri Botanic Garden, from which much is 

 confidently expected. Finally, there is a division known by the 

 tube of the perianth equaling the lobes or hardly shorter, and 

 bearing the stamens : to this belong A. rigida Miller, with the 

 Yucatan doubtful variety, Sisalana, introduced nearly forty years 

 ago into S. Florida by the unfortunate Dr. Perrine ; A. Palweri, 

 n. sp., from S. Arizona; and A. WisUzeni, n. sp. (which has had 

 the utterly false name of A. scahra in Germany) in Northern 

 Mexico. A reference to one or two very imperfectly known spe- 

 cies is appended. Of A. Americana, there is a mere mention 

 that it has a stipitate capsule. 



In all species, so far as known to Dr. Engelmann, the anthers 

 discharge their pollen about forty-eight hours before the style 

 matures and the stigma can receive pollen. After the expansion 

 of the lobes of the latter, at least in A. Virginiea, a viscid liquid 

 fills the cavity of the apex of the style, " whether stigmatic, or 

 only intended to allure insects, has not been ascertained." The 

 figures which so commonly represent bursting anthers and a fully 

 elongated style in the same blossom i - ^ -^ <• .-.• 



they certainly are in many otherwise 

 kinds of flowers. In conclug' 



pecies of Agavi 



vhat hour of the day the anthers begin t 

 pollen, and at what time they become efl*ete, and in what state 

 the style is at these periods. The anthesis, so far as Dr. Kii<i:el- 

 mann has observed, is vespertine or nocturnal, as well as juoter- 

 androus. The time and nature of the nectariferous secretion in 

 the lower part of the flower should also be recorded. a. g. 



2. titnictwre of the Leaves of Grasses: Histotaxie des feuilles 

 de Grandne'es ; par J. Duval-Jouvk. — An elaborate article in 

 Ann. Sci. Nat., tome i, of Ser. 6, 1875, with four admirable plates 

 of anatomical details. It appears to be an excellent piece of work, 

 upon an almost neglected subject. Many of the text-books still 

 Bay of the leaves of grasses, and indeed of Monocotyledons gen- 

 erally, that their veins or nerves are simple and unconnected by 

 anastomosis ; although what was meant must have been that the 

 only anastomosis was by ultimate transverse veinlets. Duval- 

 Jouve cites a long list of grasses in which these are conspicuous ; 

 and there are many in which the reticulating veinlets are of different 

 orders. The stomata of grasses are in some confined to the lower 

 surface of the leaf; in others divided between the two faces; m 

 several they are restricted to the upper face, Init in these the blade 

 makes a turn or twist, so as for the most part to javst nt this upper 

 surface to the ground. Tritimimjit»re>inK r'<ihin.r<>'j<i.<f.<.-^ ( r.-onft- 

 ma) arenaria, and Gynerium argenteum (Pampas (^rass) are citrd 

 as instances. Many grasses have under the epidermis of their upper 



