310 TlMEHRl. 
" and will send you figures and descriptions in proof. The genus belongs 
" to Jimceee, and, though very unlike, is nearer to Lunula than to any 
" other. It is a most curious genus''. 
The two plants in question are the same as those men- 
tioned by Mr. JENMAN. in his paper on the Kaieteur 
Savannah (see ante p. 249) as ' types of a new genus 
placed, I believe, near Typlia . Both Mr. JENMAN and 
I gathered our specimens on the same remarkable savan- 
nah. 
Sir JOSEPH HOOKER'S descriptions and figures of 
these plants will probably be reproduced in the next num- 
ber of this journal. 
Couvade. — Perhaps the most extraordinary practice 
ever found very widely spread among men is that known 
by the name of 'couvade' ; yet this has been observed, either 
in full operation or still discernible in faint traces, among 
innumerable races and in almost every part of the world. 
Many so-called savages, among others our Guianese 
Indians, still regularly practise couvade ; and among 
many of the most highly-civilized people, as for instance 
the Germans, traces of the former existence of the prac- 
tise may still be detected. In all probability indeed, it 
has been an universal custom, observed in every race dur- 
ing a certain stage in the development of its civilization. 
Couvade, in its best known form, consists in the 
lather of a new-born child retiring to his bed or hammock, 
treating himself carefully, and being carefully treated br- 
others, in a way which at lirst sight appears as though he 
were regarded as weakened by the effects of the birth. 
Generally too, though this is not an essential part of 
couvade, the mother ol the child, hardl\ suffering, as 
