54 Dr. Falconer on a reformed 



graph (p. 64), states that Cryptolepis Buchanani belongs to XheApocynece ; and 

 as he had the revision of Dr. Royle s collections in the Asclepiadece, it is pro- 

 bable that some specimens were open to his examination, taken from the same 

 plants in the Saharunpore garden which yielded the characters given in my 

 definition. Yet it is very evident that the plant described above has the whole 

 of the accessory stigmatic apparatus oi Asclepiadece, with granular pollen as 

 typically developed as in Cryptostegia or any other of the Periplocece, although 

 in a less considerable degree of evolution ; and that it must rank in that order 

 along with them. 



The extreme minuteness of the appendicul<e in Cryptolepis might possibly 

 account for their eluding even the keen glance of Mr. Brown, directed to the 

 dry specimen. But there are two other points of difference between the cha- 

 racters which I have noticed and those given by him, which lead me to sus- 

 pect that my plant must be distinct from the one examined by that great ob- 

 server. He mentions five hypogynous scales in his generic definition, whereas 

 in my plant I do not find a trace of them. And it may be observed in refer- 

 ence to this point, that hypogynous scales are wanting (so far as I have the 

 means of ascertaining) in the series of Periploceous genera allied to Cryptole- 

 pis. Decalepis of Wight and Arnott forms no exception ; as, in it, the lower 

 whorl of scales is attached to the base of the tube, and not hypogynous. Mr. 

 Brown further states the corymbs to be interpetiolar ; whereas, in the species 

 noticed by me, they are axillary, a character of considerable importance in the 

 habit. Roxburgh ('Flor. Ind.,' vol. ii. p. 9.) makes mention of this, in the de- 

 scription of his Nerium reticulatum. 



It may not be out of place to add a few particulars regarding the charac- 

 ters of the sexual organs. The stamens arise from the bottom of the tube of 

 the corolla ; the filaments are distinct and very short ; the anthers very thin 

 and membranous, of a triangular or sagittate shape, very acute, and supplied 

 at the back with a bearded pencil of hairs. They are connivent over the stig- 

 matic head with their edges closely adjoining, and agglutinated at the base to 

 its thinned margin. The pollen is scanty, and not collected in masses of defi- 

 nite aggregation, the grains being in a lax state of cohesion, but not quite free. 

 It differs in this respect considerably from the pollen of Cryptostegia ; which 

 is applied to the appendiculse, cohering in a web-like mass. The compound 



