196 Dr. Griffith on the Vegetation of Afghanistan, 



which form the basin of the Mediterranean. With exception 

 of the boundary line, which may be considered as identical 

 with the course of the Indus, a mixture of forms occurs no- 

 where. Graminece, Smilacince, Labiatce^ Boraginece, Synan- 

 therce, Leguminosae, Cruciferae, Chenopodiacea, are the prevail- 

 ing families, as well in number of species as individuals. Be- 

 ginning from the Monocotyledons I have numbered my col- 

 lection to the Labiates inclusive, and find so far 510 species, 

 of which 250 are Glumacece, which is certainly a very high 

 proportion. The great number of Staticece, most of which are 

 very thorny, is another peculiarity of this flora. 



" I intend on my return to England, which I expect will be 

 certainly in two or three years, to publish not only these but 

 the results of my other missions, and I should be glad if you 

 would make known my intention on the continent. 



" I feel confident that botanists will place me in a condition 

 to work up, in accordance with the prospectus sent to you 

 some months since, the materials which I have made such 

 exertions to collect, and I hope that I shall bring to England 

 matter for the work, not inferior even to that which, according 

 to the latest information, has been amassed for the flora of 

 Brazil. I shall with pleasure place at the disposal of those 

 botanists who are engaged on monographs, or willing to un- 

 dertake them, the whole of such parts of my collection as may 

 be requisite ; every notification however before my return 

 must be necessarily imperfect, as the geographical relations of 

 each species are known only to myself, and must be regarded 

 as premature. 



" I have just finished an essay on Santalum, Osyris and Lo- 

 ranthus, As regards Santalum there is much additional mat- 

 ter. Osyris is extremely remarkable : it has an embryo-sac 

 analogous to that of Santalum, but the albumen and the em- 

 bryo are formed exterior to it, and it enters not further into 

 the composition of the seed. In Loranthus the embryo seems 

 to me to be formed from the end of the pollen-tube, altogether 

 without the intervention of an embryonic nucleus (Eychens). 



" All my observations confirm the views of Schleiden, with 

 the exception of the inversion of the embryo-sac by the pollen- 

 tube, and Loranthus very especially favours his doctrine. 



" I set out shortly for Malacca and remain there till my re- 

 turn to Europe. This is a new and rich field, and the climate 

 is excellent." — Linncea, vol. xvi. p. 286. 



