rounds the. corneous or subosseous thinner ,coat. ;Imme-. 
diately within that, and free from adhesion with it, is a 
beautiful membranaceous lining, of a rich brown. colour, 
marked with longitudinal veins, as seen when held up be- 
tween the eye and the light. A portion is represented at tab, 
2827, f.5. a. It immediately surrounds (but has no con- 
nection with it, except at the very point) the almond, or oval, 
carnose, yellowish-white albumen, having a depression at 
the top conducting to the embryo, which is imbedded ina 
cylindrical cavity in the upper half of the albumen, attached 
by its radicle to the upper extremity of the cavity by means 
of a flat, white, membranaceous filament, which 1s curiously. 
folded, and so ign mene as to occupy a very small space 
in the top of the cell, but which may, without rupturing it, 
be drawn out to the length of an inch and a half, or two. 
inches. Cotyledons two, straight, cylindrical, flattened in 
the inside, one a little longer than the other, and closely 
applied ; but easily separated, and thin at the base. _F. 7. 
is seen lodged in a cavity of the two cotyledons, the plumule 
of two lobes, in this instance. Radicle conical, tapering 
into the curious filamentous stalk above mentioned, 
Of the four species of Cycas, now enumerated as being 
cultivated in our gardens, only one has hitherto been re- 
corded as having flowered with us; namely, the Cycas 
revoluta, of which a description and a splendid figure has 
been given by Sir James Situ, in the sixth volume of the 
Transactions of the Linnzan Society of London. _ It was, 
therefore, with no small pleasure that 1 was invited, by my 
excellent friend Dr. Granam, to visit the Edinburgh Botanic 
Garden, in the month of May, 1827, for the purpdse of 
seeing the Cycas circinalis, which had thrown up from 
among its noble crown of leaves, a perfect Male Amentum. 
From that plant my figure and description have been taken ; 
and in order to render its history more complete, I have 
copied a female spadix from Ricuarp’s inestimable work 
on the Conirer#, together with a female flower; and to 
them I have added an analysis of a ripe fruit, which was 
sent to me from St. Helena, by the kindness of his Excellency 
General Warker. The species has beer cultivated. in 
our stoves for upwards of a century ; the Sloanean MSS. 
in the British Museum, as quoted in Hortus Kewensis, 
stating it to have been introduced in 1700, by the Earl 
of Clarendon ; and it is, assuredly, one of the most orna- 
mental of all plants, but requiring a great deal of space for 
the display of its leaves. Its native country is the eat 
7 Indies 
