62 MR. BENTHAM ON CARYOPHYLLE:, 
natural as any that have been subsequently proposed. We pur- 
pose adopting the following eleven. 
* Semina peltata, hilo faciali. Embryo rectus. 
l. Velezia, Linn. 2. Dianthus, Linn. 3. Tunica, Scop. 
** Hilum marginale. Embryo periphericus. 
4. Acanthophyllum, C. A. Mey. 5. Drypis, Linn. 6. Gypsophila, Linn. 
7. Saponaria, Linn. 8. Silene, Linn. 9. Cucubalus, Linn. (ex parte). 
10. Lychnis, Linn. 11. Wibelinia, Hochst. 
Dianthus is the most natural and best-defined genus of the 
whole order. The calyx is peculiar, never angular, but marked 
by numerous equal parallel ribs—7, 9, or 11 to each sepal, or 35, 
45, or 55 in the whole, and is always surrounded at the base by 
one or more pairs of bracts. Ten stamens, two styles, a capsule 
opening at the top by 4 teeth or short valves, and seeds much 
flattened, attached by their inner face, with a straight embryo, 
complete the distinctive characters, to which we believe there are 
no exceptions. The species are numerous, but have been enor- 
mously multiplied in books, being particularly liable to variation 
in their bracts, in their showy petals, in the density of the inflo- 
rescence, &c. They are moreover said to hybridize in a wild state 
with the greatest facility ; but this isa point which requires much 
further unprejudiced observation. 
Tunica is à group of about 10 species which have been variously 
distributed in Dianthus and Gupsophila, or separated into one, two, 
or three genera. They have the seeds, and in most cases the 
bracts, of Dianthus ; but the calyx has either only 5 nerves, as in 
Gypsophila, or at most 2 lateral ones to each sepal, or 15 in the 
whole. Most of the species, on account of their short calyx and 
small bracts, were included by Linneus in Gypsophila; one species, 
however (now often broken up into three), with a long calyx com- 
pletely enveloped in scarious bracts, was included by him in 
Dianthus (D. prolifer, L.), and constitutes the genus Kohlrauschia 
of Kunth. Asa solitary species we think it more convenient to 
retain it in Tunica, as there are no very positive characters to 
separate it. Again, in Fenzl’s section Pseudotunica, raised by 
Reichenbach to the rank of a genus under the name of Fiedlera, 
there are no outer bracts, but all the other characters are those of 
the true Tunicas. 
Velezia, very near Tunica in technical characters, may never- 
theless be maintained as an old-established genus, to which the 
very slender calyx and rigid habit give a peculiar aspect. The 
