JAPANESE SPECIES OF BALANOPHORA. 195 
is a minute body, which seems to be one of the globular 
bodies in a very young state. Unfortunately the specimen 
found was in so early a state of development that examination 
of its anatomical structure/was but of slight value for its sys- 
tematic determination. But from its external appearance, it 
may readily be inferred that this plant belongs to the genus 
Balanophora. An illustration of this specimen will be found in 
' Gakugei Shirin’ (n. 77, p. 583), a monthly journal, published 
under the auspices of Tokio University. A second specimen 
was discovered by Mr. Makino, one of my local correspondents 
in Japan, in a district in the province of Tosa, in the island of 
Sikoku, a short account of which will be found in a Japanese 
scientific journal, * Toyo Gakugei Zasshi’ (vol. iii. p. 450, 1886). 
Though the specimen found in the latter place was only a female 
plant, it is extremely probable that it is identical with that 
obtained from Amagi-san. 
Ou examining the Herbarium at Kew, I was delighted to 
find some specimens of Balanophora collected by C. Wright in 
the Riukiu Islands. This is probably the same plant represented 
in a botanical work on Riukiu plants, entitled ** Sıtsumon Honzo ” 
(Gwaihen, vol. i. fol. 12)*. These specimens seem to me to agree in 
every respect with those which I havealready mentioned from the 
two localities in Japan. Although I do not like to rush to con- 
clusions, I cannot but consider, so far as our present knowledge 
is concerned, that there isa very great probability that the plants 
collected in Amagi-san and in the island of Sikoku, together with 
those from Riukiu Islands, belong to one and the same species. 
Thus, at present taking the view that all the plants I men- 
tioned are identical, I proceed to ascertain whether the speci- 
mens represented at Kew throw any light upon the subject 
under consideration. Fortunately the Riukiu specimens con- 
tained in the Herbarium represent both the male and female 
Plants. Entering briefly into the specific determination of the 
plant in question, it may be pointed out that the male flowers of 
the Riukiu specimens, though imperfect, seem to represent three 
* An illustrated Flora written by a native botanist of Riukiu Islands. Mazi- 
mowicz has already made the following allusion to this work in ‘ Mélanges Biolo- 
giques tirés du Bull. de l'Acad. Imp. Sci. de St. Pétersbourg, t. xi. 1883, 
P. 763:—" Sitsumon Honzo, Gwaihen, i. e. qusestiones de plantis Japonicis secun- 
dum figuras in J aponia ad naturam delineatas viris doctis Chine proposite, cum 
eorum responsis, edits ab Tsju Dzan Goshidzen e Liukiu, 5 voll. in 8vo, 1837.” 
