472 Sctentific Intelligence. 
in the legumes of Mimoseew. The group, which now numbers 
1200 species, under 29 genera, was first put into good order by 
sre Ben —e about 30 years ago; and he has now taken occa- 
to e it completely, while studying the South American 
wate Phd ihe Flora Brasiliensis, after having re-examined the 
Australian ones for his /lora Austr ‘alien. The generic characters, 
founded mainly on the stamens, of which he made happy use in 
the former monograph, have stood the test, as being the best as 
well as the readiest ; and his facile arrangement has approved it- 
self to other botanists as one sha ca as well as to his own 
enlarged experience. He ha w brought in a new subsidiary 
shniadier; that of the presence or pabotinis of albumen in the seeds, 
his, for instance, is prese n Mimosee but vi in the Acaciee 
nd In ngew, i. e., the tribes with i ndefinite stamens. As to genera, 
the adage “ by their fruits ye shall know them,” Showed true it 
may be elsewhere, has little application here. "This is illustrated 
y the figures of "the pods of various ose and Acaciew sub- 
joined to ‘the memoir, and is shown in the letterpress by a general 
discussion of the facts. As to geographical distribution, it is in- 
teresting to note that Mr. Bentham reduces the number of species 
really common to the New and to the Old World, without any evi- 
lence or r r 
not rarely wafted across the Atlantic by the Gulf Stream, is one ; 
if of African origin, the trade-wind current may have given it to 
the West Indies. Veptunia oleracea is a tropical aquatic, con- 
jecturally of South American origin, the seeds of which may have 
orgs the Atlantic ; Mimosa asperata, probably also American, 
e so readily accounted for in Africa; and the fourth, 
mane Farnesiana, is still more puzzling ; but it would seem 
somehow to have found its way from Western South America to 
Australia and the oem ‘Arohipelago before the days of Colum- 
us; yet in all four cases, the want of ocr is thonght 
to indicate a ooniparatively modern dispersi Of distinct but 
closely representative ns in oat two sete haben Mr. Bentham 
enumerates nine pai He t have added the case of two in 
sular species, Acacia hecropgta of Mauritius, and A. Koa of 
the Sandwich Islands, only that he doubts if ‘the two are sufli- 
ciently distinct. Seventeen of the 29 genera are restricted to one 
of the two bac ee! ame but nine of these have only from one to 
derivation, we cann ot sav settee The s sje is treated after 
the manner adopted in the m r on Cassia and that on Com- 
posite. Remarking the great pontorlin predominance of the order 
in all its tribes, the author acu vi remarks that “this high degree 
of recent luxuriance and prosperity of American = however, can 
by no means be relied upon as evidence as to local origin, or even 
as to comparative remoteness of antiquity; for rei may rather 
