smooth or slightly pubescent above; abundantly white, downy or woolly, and ferruginous along the veins, beneath; down often tawny; principal veins 5, and, with the secondary veins and veinlets, prominent; young leaves with a rusty down, particularly on the nerves and veins, on both surfaces. Tendrils slender, once or twice divided. The racemes of flowers are short, with usually one short branch, the flowers crowded in umbels.

The fruit of this vine varies much in size, color, and time of maturity, as well as in taste. The berries are from one half to three quarters of an inch in diameter.

One of the most remarkable varieties is the Summer White Grape or Early White. In appearance, it presents some peculiarities. The leaves are on rather long, bristly and downy footstalks, with a rusty down closely covering the under surface. The fruit is two thirds or three quarters of an inch in diameter, round, pale green, or of the translucent color of the Malaga grape, when just ripe, afterwards turning red. It is, in some varieties, very agreeable to the taste. It ripens in the last of July and in August and September. I have gathered some of this variety in the woods, decidedly superior to the Isabella grape.

Another very common variety is the Early or Summer Fox Grape. Of this the fruit is about seven eighths of an inch in diameter, of a very deep glossy purple, almost black, with a bluish bloom, pleasant to the taste, ripe in the end of August or in September.

A more common variety is the late Fox Grape. This has a dark purple, almost black, berry, quite large, sometimes nearly an inch in diameter, but of an austere, disagreeable taste.

There are many other varieties. From the seeds of grapes of this kind have been produced the Isabella, the Catawba, Bland's Grape, the Schuylkill, the Elsinburgh, and others. It promises much from the effects of cultivation.

Sp. 2. THE SUMMER GRAPE. V. æstivális. Michaux.

Figured in Audubon's Birds, with the Pileated Woodpecker, II, Plates 111 and 114.

This vine has much the habit of the last, but may be commonly distinguished by the absence of down upon the branches and leaf-stalks, and by the nakedness of the lower part of the very long trunk, in consequence of the dying of the lower branches.

The recent shoots are smooth, or with very little down, hardly dotted. The leaves are four to seven inches long, and somewhat less in width, very deeply heart-shaped, more inclined to 3- than 5-angled, often deeply lobed; when young, they are of a reddish or purplish tinge, shining above, with tufts or cob-webs of brown down beneath; when old they are glaucous beneath, and downy only on the nerves and veins,which are often purple near the radiating point.

Tendrils long, smooth, once or twice divided. Racemes very long, compound, the lower branch often becoming a tendril. Berries half an inch in diameter, dark blue, of an agreeable taste,-ripe in October.

Of this grape there are several varieties, one of which is so marked that Pursh suspected it of being a separate species. It is conspicuous for its very deep, palmate lobes, separated by rhomboidal sinuses. I have not been able to examine the fruit and flowers. It is the Frost Grape or Winter Grape, V. sinuàta of Pursh, a vine with 5-lobed leaves, the lobes arranged almost in a circle, the lower ones meeting or nearly meeting at base. Sinuses of the shape of the hull of a ship, nearly closed in by the lobes, and rounded or acute at base. Surface nearly smooth above, whitish or glaucous, with little tufts of ferruginous down thickly scattered, together with hairs, on the nerves and veins beneath; margin serrate with large obtuse serratures. Fruit in clusters long and simple, or with 2 to 5 branches, small, half an inch in diameter, ripened by the first hard frosts, thence called Frost Grape, but always acerb. Fruit-stalk smooth, purplish, fruit purple. Trunk deep purple, bark separating in long slender stripes. This agrees in many respects with the

Summer Grape, but differs in the form of the leaves and particularly in the time of maturing the fruit and in its taste. am therefore inclined to think Pursh's conjecture, that this is a distinct species, correct.

Sp. 3. THE WINE GRAPE. CHICKEN GRAPE. V. cordifolia.

Michaux.

This vine is a less vigorous climber than either of the preceding, and has a more delicate appearance. It delights to climb over rocks, along which it extends twenty or thirty feet. It is distinguished for its very short joints and the green color of both surfaces of its leaves. The recent shoots are purplish green, smooth or slightly hairy. Leaves on short petioles, which have a few short hairs; somewhat 3- or 5-lobed, heartshaped at base, acuminate, with large, sharp, deeply cut teeth; ciliate on the margin, green on both surfaces, hairy on the nerves, and with cottony tufts at the angles beneath.

Fruit in short clusters, with 6 to 8, short, crowded branches, dark purple, almost black, when ripe, with a dark blue bloom, about the size of a large pea. Seeds about 2; no core; skin very thin; pulp deep purple, almost black. The fruit is very acid, but pleasant, with a rich, spicy taste, and without any acerbity remaining after eating it. It ripens late, and is not affected by the frost.

Of the juice of this grape, Mr. Andrew Mallory, of Russell, has made half a barrel of wine at a time. It is described as of excellent quality, having a strong resemblance to Port. The plant is a free bearer and seems to promise much as a wine producer.

Sp. 4. THE RIVER GRAPE. SWEET SCENTED GRAPE.

V. ripària. Michaux.

I have found this vine on the Westfield River and on some other tributaries of the Connecticut, and in Worcester County, but not in the eastern parts of the State; and I have found only the barren flowers. It has the same appearance as the preceding, differing in the greater pubescence on the stalks, veins, and margins of the leaves.

The flowers of all the wild grapes have a pleasant fragrance, not unlike that of mignonette: of this species the flowers are still more fragrant.

XXX. 2. THE CREEPER. AMPELOPSIS. Michaux.

A genus of a few species, which are found in Africa, in Java, but mostly in the United States. Calyx entire. Petals 5, distinct, spreading, reflected. Ovary conical, not immersed in the disk, 2-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell; style short. Berry 2-celled; the cells 1- or 2-seeded.

THE VIRGINIAN CREEPER. A. quinquefòlia. Michaux.

Figured in Abbott's Insects of Georgia, I, Plate 30.

This is the most ornamental plant of its genus, and has been extensively cultivated in this country and in Europe. It recommends itself by its hardiness, the rapidity of its growth and the luxuriance and beauty of its foliage. In its native woods it climbs rocks and trees to a great height. In cultivation, it is often made to cover walls of houses forty or fifty feet high,— clinging by rootlets which proceed from its tendrils. Its recent shoots are green or purplish brown, with long orange dots. The older stalks are covered with a sort of net-work of cuticle, the meshes of a uniform size, except that they enlarge at the axils of the branches. Leaves on very long, channelled, purple or crimson leaf-stalks; of 5 leaflets palmately arranged. Leaflets irregular, obovate, wedge-shaped below, acuminate, with a few mucronate teeth above and sometimes a little below the middle, smooth, nearly of the same deep green on both surfaces, turning purple, deep red, or crimson, early in autumn. Tendrils. opposite the leaves or branches. As in the vine, the stem seems to be formed by the successive development of axillary buds. Stem often strangulated or nearly cut off by a tendril. This plant continues to flower and attract the humble bee and the honey bee through July and August. The flowers are of a reddish green. The calyx is an even or slightly waved border, encircling the base. The petals, which are perhaps true sepals, are completely reflexed and slipper-shaped, reddish, with a yel

lowish green border. Stamens 5, erect, opposite the petals, inserted at the base of the ovary, which is reddish and conical, surmounted by a roundish stigma without a style. Fruit in terminal or axillary panicles, or opposite the leaves. The stalks successively dividing by threes, at equal angles. The berries become dark blue or nearly black, when mature; at the same period, the fruit-stalks and tendrils assume a rich crimson or red color.

The great variety of rich colors,-shades of scarlet, crimson, and purple, which the leaves and stems of this plant assume, and the situations in which we see it, climbing up the trunks and spreading along the branches of trees, covering walls and heaps of stones, forming natural festoons from tree to tree, or trained on the sides and along the piazzas of dwelling houses, make it one of the most conspicuous ornaments of the autumnal months. Often, in October, it may be seen mingling its scarlet and orange leaves, thirty or forty feet from the ground, with the green leaves of the still unchanged tree on which it has climbed.

FAMILY XXXI. THE BUCKTHORN FAMILY. RHAMNA CEÆ. JUSSIEU.

Found every where except in the polar regions, but chiefly in the hotter parts of the United States, Europe and Asia, and the northern parts of Africa.

The inner bark and fruit of the Buckthorns, as well as of most plants in this family, have active cathartic powers, and some of them are also emetic and astringent. The young shoots and leaves of one species, R. alatérnus, dye wool of a yellow color. The bark and berries of another, R. tinctòrius, are valued as dyes. The Avignon berry, the fruit of R. infectòrius, is used to give its yellow color to Morocco leather. A similar dye is obtained from several other species, natives of the shores of the Mediterranean. With preparations of iron, some of them give a good black. The aromatic leaves of a species of Sagerétia, S. thea`zans, are used by the poor in China as a substitute