4i24 Linncean Society. 



November 15. — Thomas Bell, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Read a Notice " On Hodgsonia, Hook. fil. et Thorns., a new and 

 remarkable genus oi Cucurbit acece." By Dr. J. D. Hooker, F.R.S., 

 F.L.S. &c., and Dr. Thomas Thomson^ F.L.S. &c. 



Hodgsonia. 



Chak, Gen. — Fl. Mas. Calycis tubus elongatus, post anthesin de- 

 ciduus, 5-gonu?, angulis dentibusve incrassatis recurvis. Pelala 6, 

 flavida, gamopetala, calycis limbo adnata, obovato-cuneata, patentia, 

 apice truncata, fimbriato-lobata ; lobis longissimis tovtis, pendulis. 

 Stamina 5, triadelpba. Anthera; monadelphae, extrorsse ; loculis 

 linearibus contortis. 



Fl. F(Em. Calyx basi ovario sphaerico adbaerens, superne longe tubulosus, 

 niari omnino similis, intus cli?co spongioso. Corolla maris. Ovarium 

 1-loculare. Placenta 3, parietales, basin versus utrinque 2-ovulat8e ; 

 ovuUs ascendentibus, anatropis. Stylus elongatus, tubum calycis aequans. 

 Stiyma 3-lobum, lobis superne emarginatis. Dacca depresso-globosa, 

 magna, obscure 5-sulcata, pulpa indurata demum sicca repleta. Semina 

 per paria in nuces 6 arete accreta, altero minore plerumque efFoeto. 

 Testa lignosa, basi fissa (rima elongate), profunde longitudinaliter re- 

 ticulatim sulcata ; epidermide vascular! in sulcos penetrante tecta. 

 Endopleurum cx&%%\?,?,\m\\m, suberosum. Einhryo exalbuminosus; coty- 

 ledones magni, plani ; plumula lobata. 



Frutex alte scandens. CauHs ramosus, stdcafus, succo aqueo copioso 

 scatens, vasis magnis acre repletis percursiis. Folia alterna, semper- 

 virentia, coriacea, 8-5-palmafiloba. Flores magni, extus rufohrunnei 

 puberuli, intus pallide straminei villosi ; masculi spicati basi bracteati ; 

 foerninei axillares solitarii (v. ex cl. Roxburgh) in racemum brevem 

 dispositi. Petioli elongafi, basi versus axillam gemma ? corned conicd 

 sfipttlcsformi suffulti. Cirrhi laterales, 2-S-Jidi. 



Hodgsonia heteroclita, Hook. fil. et Thorns. 



Trichosanthes heteroclita, Roxb. I<L Ind. iii. p. 705 ; Wall. Cat. no. 6684 ! 



T. grandiflora, Wall. Cat. no. 6r85 ! non Blume. 



An T. hexasperma v. T. macrocarpa, Blume, Bijdr. p. 933 ? 



Hab. in sylvis densis montium inferiorum Sikkini Himalayae (ad o500 ped. 



ascendens) ; Assam ; Mont. Khasia, Silhet, Chittagoug, Penang, Java? 



— V. V. n. 



A very remarkable plant, one of the handsomest and most curious 

 of the whole natural family, with the inflorescence and flower of 

 Trichosanthes, but in fruit widely diff'erent from any of the extensive 

 Natural Order to which it belongs. It has been extremely well 

 described by Roxburgh as a species of Trichosanthes, and was 

 cultivated many years ago in the Calcutta Botanic Garden, where it 

 is now lost. A figure of the female flower is also in the Museum of 

 the India House. jRoo^ branching. Stem climbing for 80 to 100 feet, 

 festooning lofty trees. Wood of very remarkable structure. The al- 

 most axillary conical bodies, referred to buds, but generally described 

 as stipules, are most remarkable and deserve careful study. Flowers, 

 very handsome, appear in May, and the fruit ripens in autumn and 

 winter ; female flowers are rare, and from being solitary, are less 

 conspicuous than the males. Ovarium covered with small warts 

 that project through the dense, almost velvety, rusty pubescence, 

 1 -celled with three >arietal placentae, that project into the axis, and 



