114 



DR. F. MUELLER ON A.USTRALIAK ACACI.T:. 



Fruit membranaceous, three-celled. Seeds two in each cell, 

 large, compressed, testa brown. 



The habit and general appearance of this plant are so entirely 

 those of the species of Botryanthus or Muscari, Kunth, that some 

 doubt may well be entertained as to whether this may not be merely 

 a variety of one of the species of one or other of those genera. 

 K so, the validity of the genus JBellevaliaj as distinct from the 

 above-mentioned, will be much impaired. In the meantime, as 

 the present plant agrees entirely with the genus Bellevalia in the 

 characters derived from the perianth and reproductive organs, no 

 other course seems open than to consider it a new species of that 

 genus. 



x3 



Contributiones ad Acaciarum Australise Cognitionem. By Dr. 

 Ferdinand Mueller, Government Botanist, and Director 

 of the Melbourne Botanic Garden, Victoria. Communicated 

 by George Bentham, Esq., V.P.L.S., with notes on the new 



species. 



[Kead May 6th, 1858.] 



[Dr. Mueller's contributions are not only valuable for the num- 

 ber of new and well-marked species which he has added to this 

 extensive and polymorphous genus, but still more so for the addi- 

 tional characteristic notes which enable us more or less to com- 

 plete our knowledge of many species previously published from 

 specimens so incomplete that they could scarcely be recognized. 

 And there is still very much that is doubtful, chiefly from the 

 difficulty of procuring specimens in fruit, or, when procured, of 

 matching them with certainty with the flowering specimens. In 

 so far as the specimens have admitted of it, I have, at Dr. Mueller's 

 request, carefully compared his species with those nearly allied to 

 them, and added any remarks which suggested themselves, at the 

 end of his descriptions. In the few cases where I clearly identified 

 them with others previously described, I have given the published 



