have one or two more to offer of a more special nature. There 
really is one grain of corn in the midst of his chaff. He states that 
certain supposed CEnotheras have their chalaza bordered by a fringed 
. margin. This is obviously an additional organ and a special type 
of structure : it is the beginning of the feathery appendage of the seed 
of Epilobium, but it is incapable of performing the office of buoying 
up the seed in the air so as to enable it to be dispersed from place to 
place. I find the structure to be as Mr. Spach states, and that the spe- 
cies collected by the character are CE. Romanzovii, purpurea, and the 
like, which will not intermix with the true Evening Primroses, and 
which have quite a peculiar habit. Among other things, their 
flowers have no tendency to become yellow. To these plants the 
name of Godetia may be assigned. But Mr. Spach refers to the 
same type of structure, CEnothera densiflora, and the species now 
before me, making them however into another genus, which he calls 
Boisduvalia. As I have the seeds of both at this moment under 
my microscope, I can safely affirm that neither of these species 
has any trace of a fringed border to the chalaza, and that conse- 
DI the most remarkable part of their supposed character has 
no real existence. Mr. Spach adds to these marks of distinction, 
that of the stamens which are opposite the petals being very short 
(brevissima) ; this is hardly true of CE. densiflora, and it is altogether 
untrue of CE. humifusa. Boisduvalia may, therefore, be consigned 
to the same fate as the rest of Mr. Spach's new genera. 
