( 266 ) 
XVII. Observations on the Durion, Durio zibethinus of Linnaus 
By Mr. Charles Kb' nig, F.L.S. 
Read December 6, 1803. 
1 he vegetable genus which constitutes the object of this Paper, 
and of which I had an opportunity of examining the flowers, fruit, 
and a small branch, through the kindness of the Rt. Hon. Sir 
Joseph Banks, to whom they were sent from Amboyna by Mr. 
Christopher Smith, F. L. S. ranks high in the number of those 
which have a just claim to re-examination; for the characters 
hitherto attributed to it are vague and erroneous. Linnaeus, who 
first introduced the Durio as a genus in the thirteenth edition of 
his Systema Flantarum, had not seen any part of the plant ; he 
therefore took the generic character from Rumpf 's Herbarium 
Amboinense : a work very useful, upon the whole, for ascertaining 
the general habit and the history of the vegetables of which it 
treats, but scarcely in any instance sufficient, either by its deli- 
neations or descriptions, to convey an adequate idea of the parts 
of a plant, or to be depended on for establishing generic charac- 
ters. The fact is, that Rumpf s figure of the flowers of the Durion 
does not even express their habit ; nor can any knowledge be 
derived from his description, which, as may be naturally ex- 
pected, bears testimony of the period in which it was composed. 
But the Latin translation which is added to this work misleads 
still more than the Dutch original. It is, I suppose, from con- 
sulting this translation that Linnaeus describes the ovarium of 
the Durion as stipitate, which is contrary to what I have observed ; 
nor, 
