118 Mr. Brown’s Observations on the 
duced, which is the earliest notice I have yet found of this - 
organ in Composite, except in Batsch's Analysis Florum, pub- 
lished in 1790, where it is both described and figured in Coreopsis 
tripteris. "The merit, however, of establishing its nearly univer- 
_ sal existence in the hermaphrodite florets of this extensive class 
belongs to M. Cassini. | 
Both Von Rohr and Richard in their characters of Melananthera 
have described the antherz as shorter than the corolla, which is- 
indeed the case in a particular state of the flower; immediately 
after its expansion, however, they project considerably, and 
again become inclosed in the more advanced stage. This fact 
has been noticed by Jacquin*, who considers the final inclo- 
sure of the antheræ to be owing to the elongation of the corolla. 
But the actual increase in length of the corolla is very slight, 
and by no means sufficient to account for the appearance; the 
real cause of which is a considerable, and I believe a gradual, 
contraction of the filaments. This ceconomy is not unfrequent 
referred to it. The following charaeters, however, prove it to be sufficiently distinet. It 
may be named 
LirorricHe. 
Involucrum duplici serie imbricatum, subæquale. Receptaculum convexum, paleis folia- 
ceis, distinctis. Capitulum radiatum. Ligule (simplici serie) femineæ. Flosculi her- 
maphroditi, stigmatibus appendice acuto hispidulo. Achenia subuniformia, turbinata ;. 
Pappo setaceo, caduco. | 
Herbæ (Africæ æquinoctialis) Folia opposita, indivisa. Pedunculi terminales, terni. Invo- 
lucra brevia, foliacea. Paleæ receptaculi carinatæ, nervosce, acute. Corollule Slave. 
Ligulæ elongate, 3-dentatæ. Antheræ nigricantes, subinclusæ, basi mutica. Achenium 
oltusé tetragonum. Pappus, in disco verticis depressi, brevis, e setulis simplici serie, 
numerosis (8—10), distinctis, denticulatis, caducis vel deciduis. 
Melanantheræ proximè accedit: affinis quoque Ecliptae Linn. Wedeliæ Jacq. et Diome- 
deze Cassini (in Journ. de Phys, tome Ixxxii. p. 145.) sed ab his omnibus satis distincta. 
videtur. 
* Collect. ii. p. 291. Ic. Rar. iii. t. 583, 
in 
