Botany. 
and now in the possession of Dr. Warren.* Cuvier had suggested that 
one vertebral bone might be wanting, (Ossemens Fossiles,) and then 
that the number would be the same as in the elephant. The dentition 
of the animal has been satisfactorily made out by Mr. Owen, who finds 
seven teeth belonging to the series of the lower jaw, counting from the 
youngest. 
It may seem unnecessary to state that the genus Tetracaulodon of 
Godmant, was clearly shown by Mr. Owen,£ in 1842, to be only the 
immature state of both sexes of the Mastodon giganteus of Cuvier, 
and that in the male, one, at least, and usually the right, of the two 
lower tusks was retained, but that in the female both were lost as she 
approached maturity. 
IV. Botany. 
1. Vegetable Physiology.—M. Dutrochet in connection with M. Bec- 
querel has shown that when a Chara is subjected to the action of an 
electric current, the peculiar circulation of this plant ceases for a 
while, and is recontinued after a certain period, if the current is un- 
changed ; it is discontinued in the same manner with each change in 
the intensity of the current, whether the intensity is increased or di- 
minished. 
Variations of the temperature produce nearly the same effect, and 
it is also apparent on transferring the plant from fresh to salt water, and 
the reverse. 
Electro-magnetism causes no effect. The circulation is not at all in- 
fluenced by an electro-magnet capable of supporting near 2000 kilo- 
grammes, whether at the establishment or breaking of the current, the 
reversing of the poles, or any other mode of operation. 
M. Dutrochet concludes from these facts that the circulation in the 
Chara depends on a peculiar vital force, and not at all on electricity or 
magnetism, as the first of these, acts like all other exciting forces, and 
the second not at all. 
2. Distribution of the Vestiges of Palms in the Geological forma- 
tions.'-—Prof. Unger, in the work here cited, states, 1st, that no ves- 
tiges of palms have been detected in the earliest rocks which contain the 
organic remains of maritime and terrestrial plants. 2d. That palms 
bore some small part in the vegetation at the period of the coal forma- 
tion, in which Ferns, Lycopodiacese, Lepidodendrese, Calamiteae, Cyca- 
dacese, and Coniferae appear to have formed the principal growth. He 
names the following forms, viz.:— 
* See also the Am. Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and Science, vol.ii, p. 203. 
t Transactions of the Am. Phil. Soc., New Series, iii, 478. 
t Proceedings of the Geol. Soc., 1842. Scientific Intelligence. 
Flabellaria borassifolia, Sternb. Coal schist, Swina, Bohemia. 
Palseospathe Sternbergii, Unger. Ibid. 
P. aroidea, Unger. Sandstone, Ural Mountains. 
Zeugophyllites calamoides, Brongn. Rajemahl, North India. 
Two undescribed species of Gceppert, from the coal formation of 
Silesia.* 
3d. The flora of the red sandstone, although it has been very im- 
perfectly preserved, and its scanty remains but little studied, Unger 
thinks was not materially different in type from that of the coal forma- 
tion. But the fossils of this era which have been referred to palms, 
he thinks are very doubtful. Even in the variegated sandstone, which 
furnishes the remains of some other Monocotyledonous plants, no palms 
are found; nor are there any traces of them quite up to the quarter- 
sandstein, in which Goeppert found some vestiges in Silesia, (Flabella- 
ria chamoeropifolia.) From an older formation, the Oolite, the four 
species of Carpolithes described by Lindley and Plutton, may be men- 
tioned. 
4th. Finally in the tertiary, palms reappear, and the number of 
species far surpasses that of all the other formations together. In the 
eocene formation, there are, 
Flabellaria parisiensis, Brongn., from the chalk, near Versailles. 
Palmacites echinatus, Brongn. Lower chalk strata, near Soissons. 
Burtinia Faujasii, Endl. Lieblar, near Cologne. 
B. cocoides, Endl. Woluwe, near Brussels. 
The fruits called Nipadites by Bowerbank, belong to the same for- 
mation. In thfe miocene formation, we have— 
Flabellaria Latania, Rossm.; “ in arenaceo lignitum,” at Altsattel, 
Bohemia. 
F. raphifolia, Slernb.; in bituminous calcareous schist, at Haring, in 
Tyrol, Lausanne, Switzerlarid, and Piancourt, near Amiens. 
F. oxyrhachis, Ung. Haring, Tyrol. 
F. verrucosa, Ung. Ibid. 
F. ? crassipes, Ung. Ibid. 
F. Martii, Ung. Ibid. 
F. major, Ung. Haring, Tyrol. 
F. Hoeringiana, Ung. Ibid. 
F. maxima, Ung. In argillaceo-calcareous schist, at Radab, Croatia. 
F. Lamanonis, Brongn. Gypsum schist. Provence. 
Phcenicites pumila, Brongn., among lignites, at Chartreuse, Puy en 
Velay. 
* As respects palm fossils of this age, see Brongniart, in Comptes Rendus, Dec. 
1845, and in Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Feb. 1846. Botany. 
135 
P. spectabilis, TJng. Calcareo-argillaceous schist, Radab. 
P. salicifolius, TJng., “in arenaceo lignitum,” Altsattel. 
P. angustifolius, TJng. Ibid. 
Fasciculites didymosolen, Cotta, TJng. Litmitz, Bohemia. 
F. CottiE, TJng. Locality unknown. 
F. anomalus, TJng. do. 
F. ? lacunosus, Ung. do. 
F. palmacites, Cotta. Tertiary at Chemnitz ? Antigua ? 
F. perfossus, TJng. Altsattel, Bohemia. 
F. Partschii, TJng. Locality unknown. 
F. Fladungii, Ung. do. 
F. sardus, Ung. Bonarvo, Sardinia. 
Baccites cacoides, Zenk. Altenburg, Saxony. 
B. rugosus, Zenk. Ibid. 
Endogenites. Brongn. Prodr. p. 208. Horgen, near Zurich. 
In the pliocene formation, there are— 
Flabellaria antiguensis, Ung. Island of Antigua. 
Palmacites crassipes, Ung. Ibid. 
Fasciculites antiguensis, Ung. Ibid. 
“ Withami, Ung. Ibid. A. Gk. 
3. Analogy between the Flora of Japan and that of the United 
States.—Prof. Zuccarini, the author, in conjunction with Dr. Siebold, of 
the excellent Flora Japonica now in progress, (which we have more 
than once noticed in this Journal,) has recently published the first part 
of a brief memoir, entitled, “ Flora Japonica familia Naturales, ad- 
jectis generum et specierum exemplis seleclis : Sect. 1, Planta dicoty- 
ledonea polypetalaJ'1 It is interesting to remark how many of our char- 
acteristic genera are reproduced in Japan, not to speak of striking anal- 
agous forms. Thus the flora of Japan has not only Wistaria, Lespede- 
za, Sieversia, Chimonanthus (in place of our Calycanthus), Philadel- 
phus, several species of Rhus closely resembling our own, and two 
peculiar genera of Juglandese, but also a Pachysandra, some Berche- 
mias, a Staphylea, and a peculiar genus of the tribe (Euscaphis), be- 
sides, not only a dozen Maples but also a Negundo, a Stuartia, two 
Tilias, a Phytolacca, an Opuntia (surely not indigenous ?), a Sicyos 
referred to our own S. angulata, two Droseras, a Nelumbium, a Nu- 
phar and two species of Nymphea, Gynandropsis, a real Dicentra (Di- 
elytra) and an allied new genus, with several species of Corydalis, a 
Trollius, our own Coptis and two new ones like the western C. aspleni- 
folia, an Isopyrum, two species of Aquilegia, one of them near A. 
canadensis, a Cimicifuga, a Trautvetteria, an Illicium, some Magno- 
lias, Kadsura and Sphserostemma in place of Schizandra, a Mitellopsis, 
two species of Astilbe (Hoteia), many Hydrangeas as well as peculiar Scientific Intelligence. 
Hydrangeaceous forms, a Haniarrielis with two other characteristic 
genera of the family, some true Dogwoods, as well as Benthamia the 
analogue of our Cornus floridu, some true Vines, and two species of 
Ampelopsis, three species of Panax, and four of Aralia, one of which 
is near our A. nudicaulis: and among Umbellifqrae are Hydrocotyle, 
Sanicula, Sium, Angelica, but what is most remarkable, Cryptotaenia, 
Archemora, and Osmorhiza! Further cases of generic conformity 
abound in the remaining divisions of the-vegetable kingdom ; thus, for 
example, Diervilla, Mitchella, .Maclura, Liquidambar, Torreya, and 
Sassafras ! are represented in the flora of Japan. A. Gr. 
4. Conspectus of the Fossil-Flora.—Prof. Unger, in his Synopsis 
Flantarum fossilium, pp. 296, 297, and also in his treatise De Palmis 
fossilibus, contributed to the 8th fasciculus of the great work of Mar- 
tius on palms, gives the subjoined summary of the number of fossil 
species now known, under the several classes to which they are suppo- 
sed to belong. 
Alga3, .... 119 
Characeae, .... 6 
Lichenes, ... 1 
Fungi, .... 9 
Musci, .... 2 
Calamarise [Equisetaceae and 
Calamitese], . . . 109 
Filices, .... 444 
Hydropterides [Sphenophyl- 
lum], .... 11 
Selagines [Lycopodiaceae, Le- 
pidodendreae, etc.], . 207 
Zamiese, .... 100 
Glumaceoe, . . . 11 
Enantioblastm, ... 2 
Coronarim [Lilia], . . 13 
Scitaminese [Musacese], . 14 
Fluviales, . . . 21 
Spadiciflorse [Pandanocarpum 
etc.], .... 18 
Principes [Palmse], . 43 
Coniferas, . . . .141 
Aquaticse, ... 1 
Iuliflorse [Amentacese, etc.], 93 
Oleracese, ... 1 
Thymelese, ... 17 
Contortse, . . . 11 
Nuculiferae, . . . • 1 
Petalanthse, ... 1 
Discanthas, ... 1 
Polycarpie®, ... 1 
Nelumbia, .... 2 
Peponiferae, ... 1 
Columniferae, ... 14 
Hesperides, . . . 2 
Acera, .... 19 
Frangulaceae, ... 4 
Tricoccse, . . . . 1 
Terebinthineae, . . 20 
Calyciflorae, ... 5 
Myrtiflorae, ... 2 
Rosiflorae, ... 2 
Leguminosae, ... 45 
Plantae incertae sedis, . 118 
Numerus omn. spec. 1648 
The classes here given are those adopted by Endlicher. A. Gr.