146 Mr. Brown on some remarkable Deviations 
the withered remains of which were in most cases visible at the 
base of the ripe seed. The first error of Michaux naturally led 
to a series of mistakes; and the naked seed being considered by 
him as a drupa, the albumen, which is of a horny texture, is de- 
scribed as a * nux cornea crassissima," and the embryo itself as 
the seed. 
But although this account of the fruit of Leontice thalictroides be 
in no respect similar to that given by Michaux, it may perhaps 
be considered by some as still differing sufficiently from Leontice 
to authorize the establishment of a distinct genus; and that, there- 
fore, the name Caulophyllum mtay be retained, and its character 
derived from the remarkable circumstance described, namely, the 
early rupture of its pericarpium. I believe, however, it will be 
found more expedient to reduce it again to Leontice. 
For, in the first place, its habit is entirely that of the original spe- 
cies of the genus. And secondly, though the pericarpium of Le- 
ontice Leontopetalum, which is the type of the genus, remains shut 
until the ripening of the seeds, and attains a size more than suffi- 
cient for the mere purpose of containing them; yet in Leontice al- 
taica, a species in other respects more nearly approaching to L. Le- 
ontopetalum than to L. thalictroides, the pericarpium, though it en- 
larges considerably after impregnation, is ruptured by the seeds 
long before they have arrived at maturity. ' | 
The accompanying drawing, for which I am indebted to my 
friend Mr. Ferdinand Bauer, will materially assist in explain- 
ing the singular economy now described; and may also per- 
haps render more intelligible the account I proceed to give of 
the second instance in which I have observed an analogous 
structure, but to illustrate which I have at present no drawing 
prepared, Tac gt. ai 
This 
