Linnaan Society. 45^ 



many of its characters to Trachyphlcms JValtoni, especially in the 

 clothing, the form and sculpture of the head and rostrum, the 

 robust scape of the antennae, the short and stout tibiae, and the 

 short and slender tarsi; and although it chiefly differs in being a 

 larger and longer insect, yet there is a much greater dissimilarity 

 amongst the insects in the genus Otiorhynchus, and therefore I 

 think it should be located in that of Trachyphloeus. 



I obtained specimens from the collection of the late Mr. Millard 

 of Bristol; subsequently found in a gravel -pit on Plumstead 

 Common in June and July by Mr. S. Stevens and Mr. Smith. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



LINNiEAN SOCIETY. 



February 2, 1847.— E. Forster, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Read an " Account of Gamoplexis, an undescribed genus of Or- 

 chideous Plants." By Hugh Falconer, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. &c. 



Trib. GASTRODiEiE, R. Br. 



Gen. Gamoplexis, Falc. 



Perianthmm monophyllum, tubulosum, basi ventricosum; limbi breviter 

 6-lobi segmenta votundata, antrorsum (torsione) subsecunda, exteriora 

 sequalia, interiorum posticum (labellum) pedicelli torsione anticum 

 lateralibus paulo majus, cseteroquin consimile. Columna elongata, 

 erecta, semiteres, marginato-dilatata, apice tridentata cava, basi antic4 

 incrassata stigmatifera. Anthera terminalis, mobilis, decidua, carnosa, 

 bilocularis ; loculis parallelis contiguis. Massce poUinis in quovisloculo 

 solitariae, e lobulis majusculis granulatis laxe cohserentibus conflatse. 

 Glandula aut caudicula nulla. — Herha parasitica {!) aphylla, vaginata, 

 rufescens, hahitu Orobanchen quamdam omnino referens. Rhizorna 

 hypogcBtim, tuberosum, annulatum, spongiosum. Racemus elongatusy 

 multiflorus, primd nutans, demum erectus. Flores mediocres, erecti, 

 pallide stramineo-virides vel ockroleuci. 



Gamoplexis orobanchoides, Falc. MSS. cit. in Royle, Illustr. p. 364, ei 

 in Lindl. Gen. Sf Spec. Orchid. PI. p. 384, absque charactere autdejinitione. 



Hab. in iimbrosis liumidis inter Montes Emodenses ad alt. circiter ped. 

 7000 ; Dhunoultee, Tyne-Teeba, Simla, &c. Floret Julio et Augusto. 



After a detailed description of the plant, Dr. Falconer proceeds to 

 point out its affinity both in habit and structure to Gastrodia, R. Br., 

 and to Epiphanes Javanica, Bl., from both which, however, it is suf- 

 ficiently distinct in the cohesion of the labellar segment with the 

 tube of the perianthium. It is the only example, so far as Dr. Fal- 

 coner is aware, hitherto ascertained in the order, of the union of 

 all the divisions of both whorls of the floral envelope into a mono- 

 phyllous perianthium. Its parasitism is of a peculiar kind ; the tu- 

 berous rhizoma emits no root-fibres by which to attach itself to other 

 plants, but is itself matted over by their slender rootlets which ra- 

 mify upon it in every direction slightly imbedded in its surface, to 



