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while the rest of us crawled up, surrounding them on every side, excepting towards the river. As soon as the signal was given, by those who had ascended and gained the opposite side, we all raiséd a sudden yell, and sprang out of the grass, and the affrighted animals instantly fled from us, pitched over the precipice, and were dashed against the stones at the bottom, where we killed sixty-one. Some of them fell nearly two hundred feet; but some of them which were near the bottom made their escape. It took us several days to dress and cure the meat, which is cut in thin slices, and dried in the sun or by a slow fire." With a figure of the Cabree or Missouri antelope.

Note. The Cabree is not described, but is figured, and is said in another part of the work, page 118, to inhabit also the country of the Osage. It appears that several animals of the antelope tribe, or allied thereto, are found in the western parts of North America, four of which I have already ascertained, including this. 1. The Mazama ovina, Raf. (or Ovis montana of Ord. 1st number of the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia) which belongs to an extensive new genus of animals of the western continent, where it is the substitute of the antelope tribe of the eastern continent, the M. pita. Raf. M. bira, Raf. M. pudu. Raf. (Ovis pudu Gmelin,) &c. belonging to it, and probably many more species. 2. The Mazama caprina, Raf. or Pudu of North America, of Blainville. 3. The Cervus bifurcatus, Raf. (or Antelope bifurcata, of Smith,) which is a real species of buck, since it has divided horns. 4. The Strepriceros eriphos, or the Cabree of Leraye, and ibex, or antelope of some other travellers, which by the figure appears to possess the following characters; horns compressed, double the length of the head, tail long and bushy.-My genus Strepriceros includes the species of goats and antelopes with spiral horns.

7. Page 189.-"We killed a wild cat (near the Yellow Stone river) which resembled the domestic cat, and was about the same size. It was of a sallow colour, and had a tail nearly of the length of the body. This little animal is very fierce, and often kills Cabrec and sheep by jumping on their neck, and eating away the sinews and arteries until they fall,

and then sucks the blood."

Note. This short notice refers probably to a new species of cat, very similar to the cat seen by captain Lewis, but not killed, (see Travels, page 266,) which I call Felis fossor, and likewise to the VOL. I. NO, VI

Felis concolor. This species I shall call Felis misax, and characterize thus:Tail nearly as long as the body, which is entirely sallow and unspotted.

8. Page 190.-"One of the Indians killed (near the Yellow Stone river) a beautiful wild cat, about one half larger than the house cat. Its fur was long and exceedingly fine, covered with black and white spots on a bright yellow ground. Its belly was pale yellow, and its tail about two inches long. It is the richest looking skin I ever saw."

Note. All the wild cats with short tails and only three grinders on each side of each jaw, form the genus Lynx: This beautiful genus, of which only four have been recorded, has been increased by me to nearly fifteen, in a monography of it, several of which belong to North America, and among them Leraye's species shall be distinguished as follows: Lynx aureus-Bright yellow with black and white spots, belly pale yellow unspotted, tail and ears without tufts.

9. The other Quadrupeds seen by Leraye, but not described, are the following, which are mostly met between the Sioux country and the Rocky mountains. Leraye. Notes.

Beaver, Castor Tiber, L.
Otter, Lutrix Americana, Raf,
Ermine, Mustela erminea, L.
Marten,

marta? L.
Spotted wild cat, Felis pardalis? L
Buffalo, Taurus crinitus, Raf.
Elk, Cervus coronatus? Geofroy.
Deer, virginianus, L.
Grizzly, or white bear, Ursus ferox, Ra£
Black Bear,
niger, Raf.
White rabbit,
Lynx,
Mountain cat,
Fox, Canis virginianus? L.

Lepus variabilis, L.
Lynx rufus? Raf.
montanus? Raf

BOTANY.

6. Neogenytum Siculum, or Descriptions of four new genera of Dicotyle Sicilian Plants.

They are extracted from my Fragments of a Flora Sicula which I wrote from memory in January, 1816, about two months after my shripwreck. I believe all the characters stated are correct; the plants belonging to those genera having all been observed in the spring of 1815, were freshly impressed on my memory, I therefore consider that should, hereafter, any slight inaccuracies be detected in my descriptions, they will not be material, nor invalidate the establishment, characters and classifiça

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tion of those genera.
They are all
Dicotyles.
I. Genus. ADOCETON. Calyx five
leaved, sepals unequal, carinated with
hooded tops and scarious edges. Corolla
five-petalled, petals hypogyne, persistent,
equal, flat and entire. Five stamens hy-
pogyne, alternate with the petals, and
equal, filaments filiform, anthers rounded.
Ovarium central, nearly trigone, one style,
one stigma capitated and trilobated cap-
sul, one-celled, trivalve, three or six cen-
tral seeds. Small annual herbs with
knobby and cylindrical diohotomous
stems, leaves opposite, smooth, entire,
with short petiols, and scarious stipules,
flower terminal, congested, nearly corym-
bose, bracteolated.

Observations. Adoceton was one of the ancient Greek names for some species of the genus Illecebrum, to which this genus is nearly related in habit, and even in diagnosis; but it differs widely by having a corolla, and a capsul neither five-valved nor one-seeded. In my natural classification of vegetables, it belongs to the first class Eltrogynia, seventh order Isandria, and family Dionidia, together with the genera Ortegia, Hagea, Dionea, &c. the former of which differs by having only three stamens, and no corolla; the second by having emarginated petals, an equal calyx, entire stigma, and a many-seeded capsul, and the last by being decandrous, &c.

1. Sp. Adoceton Saxatile. Upright stems, leaves oval, acute, glaucous and thin, petals oblong, obtuse, longer than the calyx, capsul six-seeded. Obs. I found this species, as well as the following, on a herborisation, a few miles north of Palermo, in Sicily, towards the end of April, 1815, in company with my friend, Will. Swainson, Esq. an English botanist and zoologist. He collected specimens as well as I, and I sent some of mine (both of this species and the next,) to Dr. Romer, of Zurich; therefore I have less to regret the loss of the remainder. It grew among stones and rocks on the west side of Monte Gallo; it had the appearance of an Arenaria; the flowers only expand in the heat of the day: the stems rose from one to three inches-the petals were white. I believe it is figured in the Panphyton Siculum of Cupani, as well as the following species, under the name of Alsine. 2. Sp. Adoccton maritimum. Procumbent stems; leaves ovate, obtuse, thick and rubescent, petals lanceolated, acute, shorter than the calyx, capsul threeseeded.--Obs. This was found the same day with the foregoing; it grew in great

abundance on the sea-shore, on the sandy beach of Mondello, between Monte Gallo and Monte Petlegrino, spreading on a flat surface of three to eight inches diameter; the whole plant was of a remarkable reddish colour, and had the habit of a polycarpon: the petals were very small and flesh-coloured. Mr. Bivona, a botanist of Palermo, to whom I communicated the plant, thought it might be the Illecebrum alsinefolium of Scopoli, vide Per soon Sin. pl. 1. p. 261; but not having been able to consult Scopoli's description and figure, I am at a loss to decide; I am, however, perfectly conscious it belongs to the genus Adoceton, rather than the genus Illecebrum.

II. Genus. PHEDIMUS. Calyx fiveparted, sepalo unequal, longer than the petals; five equal petals, 10 stamens, five ovaries, the remainder as in Sedum-habit of Sedum, leaves and flowers sessile, annual plants.

Obs. This genus was already enumerated by me, in my Analysis of Nature, p. 174, as belonging to the first natural class Ettroginia, second order Perimesia. family Sarcophillia, and sub-family Diplo gynia. It differs from the genus Sedum by the striking and peculiar irregularity of the calyx, which is not found in any other genus of this family, besides the less important character of having petals shorter than the calyx. The name of Phedimus is mythological.

1. Sp. Phedimus uniflorus. (Sedum uniflorum, Raf. car. N. G. Sp. An. Pl. Sic. p. 73. Sp. 184, tab. 18, fig. 2.) Stem erect, simple, uniflore, leaves opposite, obovate, obtuse, entire; flower sessile, sepals obovate, obtuse; petals lanceolated, acute; capsuls erect.-Obs. I described and figured, ever since 1810, this plant, as a new Sedum, overlooking then the irregularity of the calyx, as a generic character; but having since found another species, with the same peculiarity, I conceived they ought to form a distinct group.

2. Sp. Phedimus stellatus (Sedum stellatum of Desfont. flora atlant, and some other authors.) Stem diffuse, branched, multiflore; leaves scattered, obovate, spathulated, acute, and serrated; flowers in spikes, one-sided; bracteas lanceolate, acute-sepals cylindrical, acute; petals lanceolated, acute; capsuls spreading, stellated.-Obs. This plant grows near Palermo, and in many other parts of Sicily, in rocky and stony soils: it blossoms in June and July; the petals are reddish white. It appears that many species have been confused under the name of Sedum

stellatus, by Linnæus, and other authors→→→ several being figured in Bauhin, &c. The Sicilian species is probably identical with that of Barbary, and of Italy. Whether the Sedum stellatus of the remainder of Europe (there are at least two species; one with white flowers, and another with yellow flowers,) is a real Sedum or a Phedimus, must be inquired into by European botanists; and if it is a Pheđimus, its comparative and distinct characters

must be ascertained.

III. Genus. PTERNIX. Perianthe oval, imbricated; lepids fleshy at the base, macronate, and spinescent. Phoranthus hairy. Calyx downy; down simple ciliated. Corolla elongated; limbus tubulas bilabiated; upper or outside lip four-cleft; lower or inside lip entire, linear, and acute; all the five divisions linear and equal. Five stamens monadelphous and synantherous; stigma filiform, entire, articulated with the style-habit of the genus. Carduus, leaves alternate, amplexicaule, few terminal, and large flowers.

Obs. The name of Pternix was one of the Greek names of the Cynara or Artichoke, to which genus this is nearly related, belonging to the same family: Carduacea, first sub-order; Cynarea, of the fourth order; Flosculia, in the third natural class Endogynia, and having the same peculiar characters in the Corolla and Anthodium; but it differs therefrom by the connexion of the filaments, and the ciliated down.

1. Sp. Piernix cynaroides. Stems with some uniflore branches; leaves amplexicaule, oval, sinuated, ondulated, smooth oothed and spinescent, veined above, glaucous underneath: lepids oval, mucrone longer, canaliculated, divaricated and thorny.-Obs. This perennial plant grows on some mountains of Sicily, and particularly near Palermo, on Mount San Ciro and Mount Griffone; the stem rises from two to three feet, and branches only at the top; it blossoms in May; the flowers are rather larger than in any species of Carduus; the corollas are purple. I think I recollect that it is figured in the Panphyton Siculum of Cupani.

IV. Genus. VETRIX. Diœcious, amentaceous, flowers lepigonal; male flowers with one stamen; female flowers with sessile ovarium, one style, two stigmas; remainder as in Salix, L.-habit of Salix, leaves sometimes opposite.

Obs. The genus Salix of Linnæus is now increased to nearly 200 species, and many more have as yet been unnoticed or undiscovered in North America, Siberia, Tartary, China, &c. among which

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are found with 1, 2, 3, 4, or more free sta mens, others with connected stamens, some with a pedunculated or sessile ovarium, others with a style or without any. In this situation it is highly proper and necessary for the better knowledge of the species and the improvement of the science, to encircle those species as forming an extensive natural group or sub-family (Salicia) in the family Amentacea, which belongs to the fourth natural order Axanthia, in the first class Ettrogynia. I therefore had already (since 1814,) divided the genus Salix into about ten genera, of which the Vetrix was one; that name being one of the ancient Latin names for some species of it. I had left the name of Salix to the majority of the species, having two free stamens, a sessile ovarium, and a style. My other genera were,

Disynia. With 2 connected or monadelphous stamens.

Vimen. With 2 free stamens, a pedunculated ovarium.

Oisodix, 2 free stamens, a sessile ovarium, no style.

Diplopia. 3 free stamens, a pedunculated ovarium, a style.

Melanix. 4 or many free stamens, a. pedunculated ovarium.

Amerix. 4 or many free stamens, a sessile ovarium.

Opodix. 3 free stamens, a pedunculated ovarium, no style.

Chalebus. 3 free stamens, a sessile ovarium.

I shall give hereafter a general arrangement of all the species, and particularly of the American species.

1. Sp. Vetrix Sicula. Shrubby, all the leaves opposite, somewhat petiolate, oblong-cuneate, acute, entire, smooth and pale underneath, catkins opposed, stigma thick.-Obs. This shrub rises from six to ten feet; it grows in many parts of Sicily, near Palermo, Catania, &c. on the banks of rivers: it blossoms in April, and the leaves appear nearly at the same time; the branches are opposite and viminal. It differs from the Vetrix helix (Salix helix, L.) and nearly all the other species of Vetrix, by its entire, oblong leaves, &c. It bears the vulgar name of Udda with some other species of Sicilian willows. Description of seven new Species of Sicilian Plants.

These plants are also extracted from my fragments of a Flora Sicula, or Sicilian flora: they are all dicotyle, except the Orchis hyemalis.

1. Ruta fimbriata. Stem shrubby, leaves decomposed, thick, folioles unegrial, oblong, obtuse cremulated, glandu

lar, the odd one longer, petals laceratedfimbriated, capsuls warty.--Obs. It has great affinity with the Ruta chalepensis, L. but it differs by the shape and crenulation of the folioles, besides the characters of the petals and capsuls. It grows on the mountains of Sicily among rocks; it rises three or four feet, blossoms in May and June, and has a powerful fetid rutaceous smell, which however is relished by the women of Sicily, who cultivate the plant in gardens and pots, under the name of Arruta. I found it wild in the neighbourhood of Palermo on Mt. Pellegrino, Mt. Gallo, and Mt. Moarda; all the flowers are octandrous and tetrapetal, except the first unfolded, which is decandrous, and pentapetal.

2. Sp. Euphorbia montana. Stem simple, leaves scattered, sessile, oboval, acute, serrulated; involucrum consimilar, ombel five branched dichotomous, involucels ovate-rounded acute: perianth four-cleft, sepals round entire, capsul warty.-Obs. It is a small annual plant, two or three inches high. I found it on the summits of the highest mountains, near Palermo, Mt. Moerda, Mt. Fico and Mt. Mezzagni; it blossoms in March and April. It differs from the E. peplus by the shape of involucels, perianth, &c. the sepals of the perianth being lunular in E. peplus, they are yellow in both species.

3. Sp. Orobanche fragrans. Stem thick, leaves scaly oval acuminate; spike thick, bracteas lanceolate acute longer than the calyx, corolla swelled, four-cleft, divisions nearly equal, ondulated obtuse, stigma jutting.--Obs. The flowers are of the size of O. caryophyllea, to which this species is nearly related; but instead of being white, they are of a pale and livid flesh-colour, their smell is also different, being peculiarly sweet and fragrant, but not like pink. It grows on rocky grounds, on the mountains near Palermo, on M. Pellegrino and M. Caputo, generally attached to the roots of the Psoralea bituminosa, while the O. caryophyllea grows exclusively (in Sicily at least) on those of the Faba vulgaris. It blossoms in April, and rises a foot at utmost. Annual.

4. Sp. Orobanche obtusata. Stem simple elongated, leaves ovate obtuse concave pubescent, spike slender, bracteas lanceolate obtuse, corolla tubular four-cleft, divisions nearly equal, obtuse entire, stamens and style enclosed.-Obs. It is a very distinct species, growing over a foot high, near Palermo, on the M. Caputo and M. Griffone: it blossoms in May, the flowers are inodorous, of a dirty or

sallow white, not large, and rather thinly scattered on the spike. Annual.

5. Sp. Xylosteon siculum. Stem upright, and shrubby; leaves ovate or nearly cordate, entire, hairy nearly acute petiolate, the upper ones nearly sessile; pedicels horizontal, very short verticillated naked spiked, berries distinet, round and red.-Obs. It belongs to the genus Xylosteon of Tournefort and Jussieu (Lonicera L); it differs from the X. canescens by not having a twining stem,&c. from X. dumetorum by being destitute of bracteas and the pedicels not being vertical, &c. It is a small shrub, rising 3 or 4 feet, which grows in many parts of the interior of Sicily, in mountainous fields near Traina, Nicosia, Gangi, &c. It blossoms in May.

6. Sp. Orchis hyemalis. Roots palmated, leaves oblong; Spike loose 4-8 flowered, bracteas longer than the ovarium, spur short obtuse, labellum trilobed, the middle lobe larger rounded entire.Obs. The O. cruenta bears much similarity to this species, but it differs from it by its labellum not trilobed, but cordated and crenulated, &c. This species grows near Palermo at the foot of M. Griffone and M. Grazia; it blossoms in February, the flowers are large and purplish; this colour extends sometimes to the bracteas and stem: it is figured in the Panphyton Siculum of Cupani.

7. Sp. Herniaria nebrodensis. Entirely smooth, undershrubby; stems procumbent branched diffuse, leaves opposite petiolate elliptie nearly obtuse, flowers in alterne glomerules, sessile few-flowered.-Obs. This species grows on the summit of the Mt. Madonie, (formerly Nebrodes), it blossoms in July, and forms a small shrubby plant of only a few inches extent, but forming by their reunion a thick turf. It appears to be intermediary between the H. glabra and the H. alpina. 8. Florula of the White Mountain of New-Hampshire.

This Florula is extracted, from a paper published in the New-England Journal of Medicine and Surgery for October, 1816, by Dr. Jacob Bigelow, of Boston, under the title of Some account of the White Mountains of New-Hampshire, and including the journal of an excursion on those mountains by Dr. Bigelow, in July, 1816. The author has annexed to it a catalogue of the plants he found in the alpine or upper region of the mountains, and of those found there by Mr. Boot in another excursion in August, 1816; he has also noticed a few of the most strik

ing species found in the lower regions. As the White mountains appear to be the highest summits in the Atlantic states, it was highly interesting to notice their natural productions. Dr. Bigelow found their total height to be 6225 feet above the level of the sea, which he divides into three regions, &c.

1. The woody region rising up to 4000 feet above the level of the sea. 2. The region of dwarf evergreens rising from 4000 to about 5000 feet, and, S. The alpine region rising from 5000 to 6225 feet. Although these mountains had often been visited before by botanists, and particularly by Mr. Peck and Cutler, no catalogue of any consequence had been published of the plants growing on them, until Dr. Bigelow's first attempt, in which he has noticed nearly 70 species, among which 6 are new, and 3 undetermined; but several other species omitted in his catalogue, are mentioned in the Flora of Michaux and Pursh, and by diligent researches and repeated visits many more will probably be detected. It will be at any time very acceptable to see some botanist, living in their neighbourhood, attempt and execute a complete investigation of their Flora, which is probably the nucleus of Botany of the New England states.

I. Plants of the Woody Region. Betula lenta

lutca

papyracea

Gualtheria hispidula

Rhodora canadensis

Oxalis acetosella

Viburnum lantanoides
Sorbus americana

Cornus canadensis
Acer saccharinum

rubrum

montanum

striatum

Pinus balsamea

canadensis

alba

nigra strobus

Dracena borealis, Ait.

&c. &c. &c.

II. Plants of the Region of dwarf
Evergreens.

Pinus balsamea v. nana

nigra v. nana

Cornus canadensis

Houstonia cerulea.

III. Plants of the Alpine Region.

N. B.-J. means found in blossom in July by Dr. Bigelow, and A. in August by Mr. Boot,

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Spirea alba Erh. A.

Solidago multiradiata, Ait. A.
Sorbus americana v. nana,
Vaccinium tenellum, A.
Veratrum vivide? J.

IV. New Genera and Species.

N. B. Dr. Bigelow has shortly noticed 6 new species, all found on the Alpine region, but some of which must even be considered as new genera, as it will appear by their description.

1. Aplostemon bracteatum. Raf. Chaff cylindrical one spiked ; spike ovate acute, surrounded by bracteas. A.

Scirpus bracteatus, Bigelow. Culmo tereti monostachys, spica ovata acuta bracteis involucrata; flosculis monandris.

Obs. This plant belongs to my genus. Aplostemon, containing all the species of Scirpus with one stamen; it differs materially from the Aplostemon triqueter,

*This Plant grew the last on the highest ridge.

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