Mr. J. Miers on the Winteracese. 39 



adherence to the inner integument, if the latter be not very 

 carefully removed. The embryo is surrounded by a small quan- 

 tity of glutinous juice, and from the cotyledonary cleft is seen a 

 narrow tubular membrane, longer than the whole embryo, ex- 

 tending along the axis of the albumen, and which, no doubt, is 

 the remnant of the embryo-sac. 



We can have little hesitation in referring to their proper de- 

 nomination the different seminal tunics above described. On a 

 former occasion* I have entered into a lengthened discussion 

 upon the structure of the several coatings of seeds in general, 

 and have shown that their nature can always be determined with 

 certainty by the position of the raphe in regard to them ; it has 

 been demonstrated that any integument exterior to that which 

 bears the raphe must be of a growth subsequent to the fertiliza- 

 tion of the ovule, and therefore extraneous to, and distinct in its 

 nature from those resulting from the growth of the proper 

 tunics of the nucleus ; and that such coating, be it membrana- 

 ceous, thick, fleshy, coriaceous, horny, or osseous, must be aril- 

 liform in its origin. Judged by this rule, the black, hard, 

 brittle shell of the seed of Drimys, hitherto considered as its 

 testa, would be an arillus ; and the spongy coating in which the 

 raphe is imbedded is that condition which I have called an aril- 

 line f, or growth of the primine into the state of a thick fleshy 

 integument. 



The genus Drimys consists of evergreen trees of moderate 

 size, possessing a hard wood, the bark of which is extremely 

 aromatic in smell and taste, whence the species peculiar to Chile 

 bear there the name of Canelo, the bark of which is called 

 Canela, the Spanish word for cinnamon. The leaves are alter- 

 nate, generally glaucous beneath ; the inflorescence, sometimes 

 axillary, is usually terminal, often in aggregated one-flowered 

 peduncles, and frequently these peduncles bear on their summit 

 a number of one-flowered pedicels, aggregated in form of an 

 umbel, with a row of involucrated bracts at their base. With 

 the exception of one, peculiar to New Zealand, and another 

 growing in the island of Juan Fernandez, the plants of this 

 genus are restricted to the continent of South America, one only 

 extending into the northern hemisphere. D, Granatensis ap- 

 pears in the mountainous districts of the western tropical portion 

 of the continent ; a few distinct forms inhabit Brazil, while others 

 are extratropical, D, Winteri confining itself to the Patagonian 

 extremity of Chile. Sir W. Hooker, many years ago J, seemed 

 disposed to merge D. Chilensis into the Magellanic species, on 

 account of the similarity of their leaves; and more recently, 



* Linn. Trans, xxii. p. 81. f Ibid. 



X Bot. Misc. iii. 134. 



