ol DR. a. DICKIE OX THE GEKUS CANXA. 



trees, with the aid of a certain amount of manure, gives full 

 promise of a successful result. When the trees are ready to cut, 

 he intends to apply machinery to the preparation of the Sago ; 

 for, according to the present primitive modes of the natives, a 

 man (Chinese) and his wife, their adult son and wife, and two 

 children are employed a fortnight in preparing the product of a 

 single tree. 



Let me add, too, with regard to labour (which I have spoken of 

 as comparatively dear), a Malay or a Chinese commands a price 

 of 3| to 4 dollars a month ; while in Java 3 rupees is considered 

 good wages ; and, besides being doubly expensive in Singapore, 

 the workman always takes two hours in the middle of the day 

 for rest, and stops work the moment the clock strikes six ; while 

 they are so chary of their labour that it is necessary to have 

 overseers to keep them at it. 



CUTHBERT COLLIXGWOOD. 



Note on the Characters of the Genus Canna, 



By G. DiCKtE, M.D., F.L.S. 



[Read May 2, 1867.] 



It will be necessary in the outset to state the opinions of dif- 

 ferent authorities respecting the characters of Caniia, and of the 

 Natural Order to which it is referred. Lindley says*, " filament 

 petaloid, either entire or two-lobed, one of the lobes bearing the 

 one-celled anther on its edge." Endliclier's statement isf, "fila- 

 ment petaloid, anther one-celled (the others all abortive), ter- 

 minal, or adnate fo the edge of the filament." A. Richard J 

 remarks, ^' one of the inner petaloid organs bears on one of its 

 edges a free unilocular anther, surmoimted by a small petaloid 

 appendage, and prolonged below into a thicker, wider filament. 

 Grisebach § describes the anther as " one-celled, marginal on a 

 lateral petaloid filament.'* In the latest authority known to meH, 

 the statement is much the same as those already quoted , ^ a 

 single one-celled stamen on the edge of a petaloid filament, the 

 other abortive." 



* < V 



Vegetable Kingclom,' p. 168. 

 t ' Genera Plantarum,' Canna, 



X Diet, des Sc. Nat., Canna. 



§ ' Flora of West Indies^ #fnwa. 



1) Duchartre, ' Elements de Botanique 



