166 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
(Spruce, 6538) ; in herb. De Boissier et Hook., Mexico (Pavon), 
Peru (Pavon). 
This is a very decided and original species, recognized by 
Linnaeus and generally by botanists as being essentially different 
from C. Pareira ; but these two species and most others of the 
genus have been fused into a single one by the authors of 
the ‘Flora Indica^ and by Dr. Eichler. If two such extreme 
forms are to be regarded as identical, upon the principle of 
ignoring the differential characters which separate them, then 
of course no other species except C. Pareira can be maintained 
in the genus, as the former botanists have explicitly shown (PI. 
Ind. i. 200) ; to be equally consistent, the same system should 
be followed in all the other genera, so that all the plants of the 
family would thus be reduced to single species in every genus. 
It is clear that either we must admit the validity of specific dif- 
ferences, according to the method established by botanists, or 
we must ignore such differences upon the singular reason laid 
down by the authorities above referred to. The moment, how- 
ever, that any second species is admitted, the whole of this very 
simple system falls to the ground. This has happened to Dr. 
Eichler in his attempt to diverge a little from the extreme doc- 
trine above cited, which he had embraced : he was evidently not 
aware, as my diagnoses of the species demonstrate, that the 
sectional characters on which he based, as exemptions, eight 
other Brazilian species of Cissampelos with long descriptions, 
are applicable to a great number of long-established species 
which he fuses into C. Pareira. A little careful observation will 
show that no such middle course can be followed consistently, 
and that there is no other way of escaping from the dilemma 
except by returning to the methods universally followed by 
every other botanist. 
Plumier^s figure of the ? plant of Cissampelos Cdapeba, col- 
lected in St. Domingo, is a good representation of the specimens 
I have seen from other localities, and his deseription, as far as 
it goes, is correct. I have not seen the C. eriocarpa of MM. 
Triana and Plauchon, collected by the former in the Cordillera 
of Bogota; but the characters given of it quite correspond 
with the above diagnosis, drawn from the Peruvian and 
Mexican specimens. All the plants are more or less densely 
covered with spreading reddish or yellow villous hairs ; the 
leaves are 3^-4^ inches long, 3|-4^ inches broad, with a basal 
sinus |-1 inch deep ; the densely villous petiole, inserted on the 
margin of the blade in continuity with the midrib, is 2 inches 
long in Spruce’s specimen, and 3^ inches long in Poppig’s. In 
Pavon’s plant the leaves are somewhat smaller, less orbicular; 
