502 DR. M. T. MASTERS OX TKK STRUCTURE OF THE 



In the description drawn up by our learned President* may be 

 found a lesson to those who would generalize upon insufficient 

 data. With his vast knowledge of plant- structure, and particu- 

 larly after a careful study of the genera of Myrtacece^ to which 

 both Naj^oleona and Aster a^ithiis are referred, ]Mr. Bentham, ne- 



vertheless, speaks doubtfully upon the structure of this extraor- 

 dinary flower. Omitting such portions of the description as are 

 not relevant to my present purpose, I quote merely those portions 

 relating to the organs intemnediate in position between the calyx 

 and the pistil, "PetalaO? Staminodia ? staminaque in series 4 

 concentricas ima basi plus minus connatas disposita, seriei exte- 

 rioris (petala ?) in membranam orbiculatam petaloideam 20-40- 

 plicatam connata, seriei secundse numerosa, libera v. vix basi 

 connata, anguste ligulata, anantliera, seriei tertise in cupulam 

 supra medium 20— 10-lobam lobis inflexis anantheris connata, 

 seriei intimse basi inter se et cum serie tertia connata, superne 

 libera, late ligulata, alia ananthera, alia (rarius omnia ?) antheri- 

 fera; anthera) oblongse, adnatse, uniloculares. Discus in vertice 

 ovarii annularis." From this it will be seen that my description 

 (originally drawn up some time before the publication of the 

 ' Grenera ') differs merely in considering the broad orbicular 

 membranous plate immediately within the calyx as a true corolla, 

 and not as a series of staminodcs — a difference of very trifling 

 nature. I should also prefer to speak of the disk as encircling 

 the ovary, and partially adnate to it, rather than in the words 

 used by Mr. Bentham above cited. 



Tlie most recent account is that of MM. Le Maout et De- 

 caisnef. In the description of the Order Napoleonece, the corolla of 

 Napoleona is described as double, " I'exterieure subrotacee, ner- 

 voso-plissee, entiere; I'interieure rayonnante, multifide. Etamines 

 inserees au fond de la corolle, 5 petaloides, a 2 anthcres," In 

 this description, what I have considered the first row of the 

 corona is called the second of the corolla — a difference of no 

 very great moment. But nothing is said as to the second row of 

 the corona; while the description of the true stamens is, to say 

 the least, rather ambiguous. 



The plant called N, Voyelii has now to be mentioned. The 

 species was founded by Dr. J. D. Hooker and M. Planchon upon 

 specimens gathered by Yogel at Cape Palmas (Niger Flora, p. 360, 

 tab. 49). The only points in the description on which it is here 



* Benth. et Ilook. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 723. 

 t Traite G^n^ral de Botaiiique, p. 287. 



