as distinguished from the Symplocacese. 145 



distinct from the hard shell which has been called the testa, and 

 "vhich is probably here developed from the secundine, while the 

 irner tegmen proceeds from the tercine. Prof. Agardh^ following 

 xiartius and Endlicher, considers Aristotelia as the type of a 

 distinct family ; but I shall be able to show that it differs little 

 from Tricuspidariaj Vallcea, and Elaocarpus, and that Sloanea 

 and Dasynema resemble these in all essential features, if we 

 except their want of petals through abortion. I cannot therefore 

 accord with his opinion concerning El(Bocarpe(B and Styraceae, 

 that "gemmularum positio et forma, fructus, gemmulse paucse 

 cvolutse, et forma embryonis, in utroque ordine fere eadem 

 sunt.^' Nor can I agree with him concerning the latter family 

 in saying, " certe enim nee cum Meliaceisj nee cum Olacineis 

 qusedam affinitas.^^ 



The same authority (/. c. 270) says of the ovary of Styrax 

 officinale, " plusquam dimidia parte calyci adnatum vidi." I find 

 on the contrary, in its complete flower, that the ovary is generally 

 wholly superior; sometimes, however, only a small portion of 

 its cavity is below the line of junction of the calyx with the 

 corolla j a solid disk or torus nevertheless supports the ovary, 

 and interposes between it and the summit of the peduncle, the 

 margin of which, adnate to the base of the calyx, sometimes rises 

 a little above the line mentioned, but only in a trifling degree, 

 which is a variable character in the same plant. 



Prof. Agardh, again, speaking of my definition of Styrax, 

 remarks, " nee ovarium vidi superne uniloculare, nee podospermio 

 cupulato, nee in flore saltem placentam centralem." Now my 

 own observations upon dried specimens of S. officinale are com- 

 pletely at variance with the above citation : its ovary appears to 

 me unmistakeably unilocular in the summit, as I have constantly 

 found in Strigilia, Cyrta, and Pamphilia. The fact is confirmed 

 by the definition of the genus in DeCandolle's ^ Prodromus' (viii. 

 259) *j and it is so figured in Delessert's ' Icones' (tab. 42 & 43). 



note, p. 132). We have evidence that such an assumed action cannot 

 have occurred, because, in such case, the vessels of the raphe, instead of 

 existing (as they are seen) in the outer fleshy tunic of the seed, ought to 

 have been found imbedded in the inner bony shell, deposited, according to 

 that hypothesis, upon the internal face of the primine, where the vessels of 

 the raphe are always seen attached. I am the more confirmed in this 

 opinion by the instance of Tricuspidaria, which offers a strong case of 

 analogy. I have found there, after the ovary has somewhat advanced in 

 growth, subsequent to the fall of the corolla, that the primine becomes 

 thick and fleshy, and remains quite loose over the firm integument that 

 subsequently becomes the nut, being perfectly free from it at all parts of 

 its surface, except at its broad chalazal extremity. 



* Prof. A. DeCandolle states, in his generic character of Styrax {I. c), 

 solely on the authority of Richard, cited as far back as 1781, that the ovary 



Am, ^ Mag, N, Hist, Ser. 3. Vol'm, 10 



