no Seward and Gowan .— The Maidenhair 
feet five inches in diameter.’ A recent writer in the Gar¬ 
deners’ Chronicle 1 expresses his opinion that Dr. Henry also 
met with the Maidenhair tree in a wild state in South-West 
China. 
The photograph reproduced in Plate VIII is taken from 
a water-colour sketch executed by a native artist under 
the direction of Mr. Robert Fortune during his residence in 
China. Our cordial thanks are due to Mrs. Robb for the 
generous loan of the original picture, which is of interest as 
representing the habit of a well-grown tree from the point 
of view of a Chinese artist. Several photographs of fine 
examples of Ginkgo trees grown in English gardens have 
been published from time to time in the Gardeners’ Chronicle 2 . 
The single existing species has long been recognized as a 
member of the Gymnosperms possessing certain features 
suggestive of remote antiquity, and nearly related to species 
which were widely distributed during the Mesozoic and Ter¬ 
tiary eras. While usually included in the Taxineae, Ginkgo 
has for many years been regarded as a peculiar generic type 
exhibiting numerous points of contact with the Cycadaceae, 
and the most cogent reason for giving full expression to its 
isolated position has been supplied by Hirase’s discovery 3 of 
ciliated antherozoids, a striking confirmation of Hofmeister’s 
view 4 that these motile male elements would probably be 
found to be developed in the pollen-tubes of Gymnosperms. 
A new subdivision of the Gymnospermae, the Ginkgoaceae, 
has now been adopted by Engler 5 and others for the 
reception of the monotypic genus Ginkgo , distinguished from 
the true Coniferae by the possession of motile male cells 
as well as by other characters of more or less importance. 
While sharing with the Cycads several characteristics, Ginkgo 
possesses some features which suggest comparison with the 
Ferns. The anatomical investigation of Palaeozoic and Meso- 
1 Gardeners’ Chronicle (’ 99 ), p. 467. 
2 Vide the above paper for references. 
3 Hirase (’ 97 ), (’ 98 ). 
5 Engler and Prantl (’ 97 ), p. 19. 
4 Hofmeister (’ 63 ), p. 438. 
