Linncean Society. 



very slender ramifications, which are in every axil dichotomously 

 divided, the solitary involucre on a lengthened capillar)^ pedicel 

 springing from the middle of each bifurcation, and by the proportion 

 of its floral parts. The author gives his reasons for regarding the 

 floral envelopes in Polygone^ as constituting a calyx and corolla, 

 which, in all described EriogonetB, have a ternary arrangement with 

 9 stamina and 3 styles ; but the present genus differs in the quater- 

 nary disposition of the envelopes, accompanied by 8 stamina and 

 4 styles. He had at first regarded it as entirely undescribed, the 

 characters of Oxytheca, as given by Mr. Nuttall in the ' Journal of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,' 2nd series, vol. i. 

 p. 169, deviating widely from those observed by himself on the Chi- 

 lean plant ; but the examination of a specimen of Oxytheca from Mr. 

 Nuttall himself, in Sir W. J. Hooker's Herbarium, has convinced 

 him that, notwithstanding these apparent discrepancies, his plant is 

 referable to the same genus, the characters of which he is compelled 

 to .laodify as follows : — 



AWSI ^fAPihtiUi.Ot ft*^K\'viM5i .bQxytheca, Nutt. 



jjChar. (jen. tnvolucrum 3-5-floi'um, tubulosum, subtetragoninn, ad me- 



r_jj dium 4-5-partitum ; laciniis subsequahbus, acutis, longissiine aristatis. 



g^^l Flores hermaphroditi cum masculis interdum intermixti, pedicellati, 



^,y, bracteati, subexserti, demum cernui. SepalaS-4^, petaloidea, sequalia, 



^^„, oblonga, unguiculata, valde imbricata. Peiala 3-4, sepalis alterna et 



_j^g, subsimilia, tenuiora, glabra, imbricata, et cum illis persistentia. Sta- 



j^jjj,^ mina 6-8, e summo gynophoro orta, inclusa, 3-4 alterna breviora 



_j^, sepalis opposita ; j^/amf «/a filiformia, apice inflexa; anther (B rotun- 



^^jj, datas, cordata?, dorsifixae. Ovarium ovatum, 3-4-gonum, stipitatum, 



.jj(^,l petalis tertio brevius, 1-loculare: ovulo basilari, erecto. Styli 3-4, 



^^^. breves, erecti, demum divaricati ; stigmata capitata. Achaniiiim 1-sper- 



."^^^. mum, ovale, 3-4-costatum, sepalis pelalisque emarcidis arete tectum. 



Semen loculum implens ; testa membranacea. Embryo spiralis, anti- 



tropus, intra albumen farinaceum inclusus ; cotyledonibus cochleato- 



^j, rotundis, foliaceis, accumbentibus ; radiculd illis triple longiore, tereti- 



subulata, hemicyclica, apice recto verticem spectante. — Herbae svjfru- 



ticuloscB Californiccp et Chilenses, Andicolte, sesquipalmares, valde rn- 



ii ' wos<?; ramis gracilibus, in qudque axilla 2-3-chotom^ divisis; foliis 



'.a'g radicalibus congestis, lineari-subulatis, caulinis bracteiformibns, axilln- 



ribus, ternis, basi connatis, hinc breviter twginantibus ; involucro lotfge 



pedunculato e qudque dichoiomid orto ; floribus minufis, sigillatim prce- 



cocioribus ; pedicellis basi bractea lineari, arislatd, breviore donatis. 



ivi^jQxYTHECA spicuLATA, dichotome ramosa, ranmlis gracilibus divaricatis 

 \>i^'-v glanduloso-pilosis, foliis radicalibus congestis spathulato-liuearibus 

 utrinque pilis eglandulosis asperis, pedunculo axillari capilJaceo, invo- 

 -yo lucri dentibus 4 arista acuformi longissima armatis, floribus 4- meris, 

 -UJ- staminibus 8, petalis rubentibus apice patentibus. 



Hab. in Andium Chilensium descensu Ovientali, inter Mendoza et Acon- 

 ,,. . cagua, circa rivulum S**^ Mariae, altitudine 8000 ped. j t' .o\v'\ 



•■'The other genus described by Mr. Miers is a nearly ftpli'3'llous 

 shrub, with straight, erect, virgate branches, terminating in spines, 

 and belongs to the family of Bigtioniacea, from some of the usual 

 characters of which family it ofi^ers, however, a striking deviation, 

 the ovarium being simply bilocular, with a few ovules suspended on 



