Scientific Intelligence . 
$74? 
286 
are those of the volume, as ought always to be the ease, for com 
venience and uniformity of reference. 
-r'v 1 T _1 • 1_:_3_4.1,.- C _.4-^1^:^^ 
L horny margin, t 
Dr. Engelmann deserves high praise and many thanks for taking ltt0 ' Qnlv now 0 \ 
in hand, one after the other, our difficult botanical subjects, con- F e . ^ 
centrating his attention upon them for a while, elucidating them to P. te( j 
the full extent of his opportunity, and leaving them in such a 7 ^ 
state that they can be easily understood, or readily followed up ( , 011 L meng . 
as occasion serves, by ordinary observers and collectors. His ; H tn<B ® , , : 
latest essay of this sort was upon Yucca. He passes from that , 
to the analogous American genus, Agave , the “ American Aloe,”" Jj J rl . J 
first distinguished from the old-world Aloe genus by Linnaeus, |f,lrom o. Anzon 
who gave them the present name, Agave , “because that word in- utterly ialse nam 
dicates something grand and admirable.” The headquarters of » A ret ® ren ?® 
the genus are in Mexico, but a considerable number inhabit our )j> appended, ut 
southwestern borders, and one reaches well into the northerjMtit has a stipitate « 
States. There are “perhaps 100 species,”—possibly a high esti- I all species, so f 
mate, but the catalogues of cultivators give twice that number darge their poller 
of names. Most of them are nearly unrepresentable in the her- ires and the stigi 
barium, while in cultivation they seldom blossom. The century^|ielohes of the lat 
plant, A. Americana , may sometimes in our cool regions literally ithe cavity of the 
answer to its popular name: semi-centennial specimens at leastintended to allu: 
are not uncommon. fts which so comn 
Dr. Engelmann first devotes a few important pages to the gen-; ^ated style in th 
eral structure and conformation of the trunk, foliage, inflorescence^certainly are in 
and fructification in the genus, and passes to a systematic arrange- m of flowers. In 
ment and description of the N. American species as now knowlHiiamine species of 
to him, and of a few extra-liihital species upon which he is able to aote at what hou 
throw some light. They fall into three groups. 1. Singuliflorae, %, and at what 
with flowers in a simple spike, a single one to each bract. Our style is at these 
northern Agave Virginica is the familiar representative: there t has observed 
are also A. maculosa of Texas, and A. variegata from just over bus. The time* 
the border, both in cultivation. 2. Geminiflore ®, with a denser (l ower p art 0 f tlle 
spike, a pair of flowers to each bract. Our species are arranged i, Structure of th 
by obvious characters of the margin of the leaves, viz: with Urmdnees - par 
rough serrulate margins, A. falcata , n. sp.; with filamentose m 4®Jci. Nat tome 
gins, A. Schotti, n. sp., and A. parviflora, Torr.; with aculeate- iiatomical details 
toothed margins, A. hetearcantha , Zucc. (which is Torrey’s A. i an almost ncoh 
Lechuquilla ), and A. Utahensis , Engelm. 3. Paniculate®, the typ- rofthe l ea ves f 
ical Agaves or Century-plants, with paniculate inflorescence. There illy that tho* ° ‘ 
is a division with tube of the perianth much shorter than its lobes. L ’ • # , r vei 
Under this A. Newberryi , n. sp., is marked by the insertion of the Las tm L - 
stamens on the base of the tube. The others, with stamens borne L .. m ° sis 
in the throat, are A. desertion, sp., A. Parryi, n. sp. (doubtfully a lon g 
regarded by Dr. Torrey as a variety, latifolia , of A. Americana T reman y iT 
and A. Antillarum Dese., with orange-yellow flowers, now eluci- | atom at 
dated from materials brought from San Domingo by Parry and the leaf; i 
Wright in 1871. The division with tube of the 'perianth shorter L ^ e y are rest 
than its lobes, and bearing the stamens about its middle, contain fc a ura or twig 
a very striking species, A. Shawii , from the southwestern corner L totae groun 
of California, which, having broad and deep-green leaves with an< ^ ^ 
