56 MR. BENTHAM ON CARYOPHYLLESA, 
the Curvembryonous group, of which each one appears to be con- 
nected with the others by gradations so close that positive limits 
have very seldom been assigned to any of them, and yet they are 
necessarily dispersed in the three great classes of Thalamiflore, 
Calyciflorz, and Monochlamyde. Thus we find in the * Prodromus’ 
that the numerous genera constituting the group are distributed 
among ten orders :— Caryophyllez, referred to Thalamiflore ; Paro- 
nyehiaces, Portulacez, and Ficoideæ, to Calyciflore ; and Phytolae- 
caces, Salsolaceæ (Chenopodies), Basellaceze, Amarantacez, Poly- 
gonacee and Nyetagineze, to Monochlamyde. In this arrange- 
ment De Candolle appears to have been sometimes guided by 
the charaeters shown in what had been considered as the 
typical genus of each order. But the so-called typical genus of 
an order, as I believe I have already had oceasion to point out to the 
Society, has not been always the one exemplifying in the most 
striking degree the characters prevailing in the majority of its 
co-ordinates, but, on the contrary, has often been remarkably ex- 
eeptional, having been selected to give its name to the order from 
being the earliest or the most familiarly known to European bo- 
tanists. Thus in Portulacez, for instance, the supposed typical 
genus Portulaca, having a semi-inferior ovary, determined the 
position of the order among Calyciilore. It is, however, in that 
respect a remarkable exception in the order, all the rest of which 
(as it is usually limited) is essentially hypogynous. Some Caryo- 
phylleous genera are also more perigynous than several of those 
included by De Candolle in the supposed perigynous order Paro- 
nychiaceze. 
To remedy these and similar incongruities, several transpositions 
have been suggested by those who adhere generally to the Can- 
dollean classes. Thus, Asa Gray reduces Paronychiaces to a sub- 
order of Caryophylle:, and removes also Portulacee next to them 
among Thalamiflore. Harvey and Sonder bring Phytolaccaceæ 
also up to Thalamiflore, but leave Portulacee and Ficoidee in 
Calyeiflore. Lindley rejecting the distinction between Apetale and 
Polypetale, has two hypogynous alliances— Silenales, consisting 
of Caryophyllacez, Ilecebracez, Portulacez and Polygonacez, and 
Chenopodales, consisting of Nyctaginacem, Phytolaccacez, Ama- 
rantaceze and Chenopodiaceex ; and one perigynous alliance, Ficoi- 
dales, composed of Basellaceze, Mesembryacez, Tetragoniacee and 
Scleranthaceæ. Endlicher, on the other hand, rejecting the charac- 
ter derived from staminal insertion, but maintaining that founded 
on the presence or absence of petals, places Mesembryacew, Por- 
