four, spreading ; two outer ovato-cordate, incised and ciliato- 
serrate ; two inner small and more ovate. Female of five or six 
sepals, less spreading; three outer cordate, the two or three 
inner small, inciso-serrate, and ciliated. Immature fruit clothed 
with stout, soft, subulate, long, white hairs, three-winged, two of 
the wings short and rounded, the third scarcely twice as large, 
and with an obtuse angle above. 
Fig. 1. Female flower. 2. Pistil, from which the sepals are removed :— 
magnified. 
The followmg memorandum has been communicated by our 
excellent friend Dr. Wallich, in connection with his remarks on 
the genus Methonica, under Tab. 4723 (note) of the present 
volume :— 
“As you have adopted my view of the MJethonica question, | 
beg to forward the following corroborative matter. 3 
“The name is of Sanscrita origin. Prof. H. H. Wilson tells 
me that ‘ Mettoni or Mentoni, according to the Rev. Mr. Bailey's 
Malayalim Dictionary, is a poisonous plant, Leea hirta, of which 
one root is supposed to be poison, the other the antidote ;’ and 
he thinks it probable that those names may be derived from the 
Sanscrita Mithuna, a pair, a brace. Hermann’s name is therefore 
identical with those in the Malayalim, which language is almost 
entirely of Sanscrita descent. Rheede’s Mendoni (Hort. Mal. vii. 
p. 107. t. 57) has the same origin. As to Leea hirta, this in- 
nocent shrub may be considered as having nothing whatever to 
do with the matter; and the extravagant fancy about the poison 
and antidote in one root, points at the geminate root of Metho- 
nica Malabarorum, and its supposed poisonous property.” 
