Mr. J. Miers on the Tribe Colletiese. 9 



by Bonpland are not to be relied on, as Kunth found them 

 disproved by the analysis he made of the dried specimens ; 

 the latter may therefore be accepted as the more correct. They 

 correspond thus with the general features of the Colletiece, and 

 the species here associated harmonize sufficiently together. 

 Kunth describes the nut as containing two hard and crustaceous 

 pyrense, one of which he found abortive, the other emptied by 

 caries : this coating evidently corresponds with the hard crusta- 

 ceous covering of the seed common to all the Colletiea. The 

 genus, therefore, in the absence of perfect specimens, can only 

 be characterized imperfectly, and its features will no doubt 

 require some modifications whenever better evidence can be ob- 

 tained ; but in the mean while, the facts already established tend 

 to confirm its validity. Its name is derived from o-Kixjyos, scy- 

 phus, in allusion to its cup-shaped disk, after the example of 

 Discaria, to which genus one of the species has been referred 

 by Dr. Hooker, on account of its disk. 



Scypharia, nov. gen. — Calyx campanulatus, semiglobosus, 

 coloratus, glaber, limbo 5-6-fido, laciniis ovatis, acutis, sequa- 

 libus, immutatus et persistens. Petala 5, interdum 6, parva, 

 inter lacinias alterna, iisdem dimidio breviora, subreniformia, 

 apice plus minusve profunde emarginata, aut bifida, basi un- 

 guiculata,lateribus inter se mutuo plicata,et stamina claudentia, 

 glabra, alba. Stamina tot quot petala, et cum eorum ungui- 

 bus inserta; filamenta subulata, glabra; antherce ellipticse, 

 2-loculares, utrinque rima longitudinali dehiscentes. Discus 

 cupuliformis, calycis tubo brevior, et ei omnino adnatus, car- 

 nosus, flavescens. Ovarium superum, globosum, fundo disci 

 insitum, glabrum, 2-lobum, 2- (vel3-?) loculare; ovula erecta, 

 in loculis solitaria. Stylus teres, crassus, brevis, glaber. 

 Stigma 2-lobum, lobis obtusis, conniventibus. Fructus dru- 

 paceus, ovatus, imo calyce persistente suffultus, 2-locularis, 

 loculis monospermis, vel abortu 1-locularis. Semen crusta- 

 ceum ; csetera ignota. 



Suffrutices Ecuadorenses et Gallapagenses, interdum spinosi; 

 spinse decussatim opposite, divaricates; folia oblonga, saepius 

 glaberrima, petiolata, cito caduca ; flores pauci, minimi, fasci- 

 culati, axillares vel sub spinis propullantes. 



1 . Scypharia Guayaquilensis; — Rhamnus Guayaquilensis, H.B.K. 

 vii. 55 ; — Rhamnus decussatus, R. fy P. in herb. Lambert. ; — 

 Sageretia Guayaquilensis, Brongn. Ann. Sc. Nat. x. 360 ; — 

 fruticosa, suborgyalis, ramosissima, subspinosa, ramis ramulis- 

 que angulato-tetragonis, lsevibus, glabris; spinis elongatis 

 decussatim oppositis, sparsis, patentibus, glabris, apice 

 pungentibus, axillis foliifcris pluribus munitis et hinc casu 



