206 Mr. Brown's Account of a new Genus of Plants, 



panded flower exhibited the same structure ; and the larger bud, 

 which was examined by Mr. Bauer, whose beautiful drawings of 

 it form the most valuable part of the present communication, 

 proved also to be male. 



These materials, it must be admitted, are insufficient even for 

 the satisfactory establishment of the proposed new genus, and in 

 my opinion do not enable us absolutely to determine its place in 

 the natural system. 



The curiosity of botanists, however, has been so much excited 

 by the discovery of a flower of such extraordinary dimensions, 

 the male flower is in many respects so singular, and its structure 

 is so admirably illustrated by Mr. Bauer's drawings, that, ac- 

 companied by them, even the present incomplete account will 

 probably be thought worthy of a place in the Society's Transac- 

 tions. 



Its publication is the less objectionable, as it may still be a 

 considerable time before the plant is met with in all its states ; 

 and however unsatisfactory our present materials may be, either 

 for determining its affinities, or the equally important question, 

 whether it be parasitic on the root to which it is attached, there 

 can be no doubt that it forms a genus abundantly distinct from 

 any that has hitherto been described. 



It is proposed, in honour of Sir Stamford Raffles, to call this 

 genus Raffles i a, the name I am persuaded that Dr. Arnold 

 himself would have chosen had he lived to publish an account of 

 it ; and it may in the mean time be distinguished by the following 

 characters. 



RAFFLESIA. 



