326 Scientific Intelligence. 



short distance from the present Station there is another Colonia 

 which may later be employed for the plants which demand much 

 more moisture. Mr. Grey has collected in the vicinity certain 

 products from the remarkable " escapes " from former cultiva- 

 tion. In some instances, the coffee and self-sown cotton go back 

 to a period coincident with the beginning of the disturbances in 

 this part of the island. In many cases, these products are of 

 fair, in others of excellent, quality. If one can judge from the 

 character of these products of plants which have become practi- 

 cally wild through abandonment, there is great encouragement to 

 resume cultivation at the earliest practicable moment. By selec- 

 tion, crossing, and hybridizing, and by judicious adaptation of 

 plants to special soils, the Station undertakes, in a modest way, 

 to lend a hand towards the restoration of prosperity to some of 

 the districts which have felt the effects of neglect of agriculture 

 through civil war. g. l. g. 



2. Professor v an Tieg hem's Classification of Plants. Ann. 

 des Sc. nat., xiv, No. 4, 5, 6. — We have had more than one 

 occasion to call attention to the interesting suggestions made by 

 Professor vanTieghem, in regard to defects in the accepted 

 classifications of plants. In the present work, the author offers 

 still further suggestions, and constructs a system which he now 

 offers as a basis for discussion. 



He takes as his basis the embryo, in its widest sense. 



It is well known to our readers that -the author has devoted 

 many years of assiduous study to the investigation of the ovule. 

 His results led him two years ago to extend the research through 

 the Cryptogamia, and see to what extent the fertilized germ 

 could be utilized as a safe basis of classification throughout. 

 Although the present communication covers almost 200 pages, it 

 is justly regarded by the author as merely a tentative " essay," 

 in the etymological sense of the word. 



It has been necessary for the author to substitute for the terms 

 generally accepted, a set of new terms, some of which do not 

 easily pass over from their French form into terms which could 

 be employed in English or, in short, in any other language, 

 except Italian. This is particularly unfortunate, for the author 

 has selected a good Greek substratum for his new words. But 

 we have found it difficult to turn Tomiees, Adlodees, Macrodio- 

 dange, etc., into forms which accord with our English usage. 



Leaving this difficulty out of account, we may. say that the 

 whole paper is filled full of most interesting subjects for the 

 systematist, and shows clearly that the last word has not yet, by 

 any means, been said in regard to a classification of plants based 

 on their development. 



Moreover, the frank admission of the author that the suggested 

 system has many lacuna?, large and small, some of which he 

 points out, makes the work attractive from its transparent 

 honesty. Commending the communication to our readers as one 

 of the most important contributions for many years, embodying, 



