132 Mr Don's Observations on PMladelpheoe and Granafece, 



again indebted to the kindness and attention of Sir Thomas 

 Brisbane, who some time ago transmitted to Professor Jameson, 

 for the Royal Museum of the University, a female echidna, 

 which was put into my hands for examination. On the heels of 

 the female echidna, exactly in the situation of the spur in the 

 male, there is found what I shall venture to call a rudimentary 

 spur, similar in many respects to that of the male, which it in 

 some measure represents in miniature. It is placed in the bot- 

 tom of a little cavity, not quite deep enough to conceal it from 

 view : its base may be about half the size of the male spur, but 

 it suddenly tapers to a point, so that altogether it may not be 

 much larger than a fourth, or probably a fifth part of a full 

 grown male spur. It is of the same horny texture, and seems 

 altogether quite analogous with that of the male. 



The physiological anatomist can have no difficulty in com- 

 prehending that this organ must bear to the male spur the 

 same relation that the human male breast does to the female. 

 In the one case we have an organ fully developed, and capable 

 of performing its functions, in the other a rudimentary and im- 

 perfect organ. The rest of the poison apparatus found in the 

 male, and first described by me in the Wernerian Transactions 

 (vol. V. p. 1.) seem to be wanting in the female. 



Observations on Philadelphea and Granatece, two new Families 

 of Plants. By Mr David Don, Libr. L. S. Corresponding 

 Member of the Wernerian Society, &c. (Communicated by 

 the Author.) 



JLJLLTHOUGH the genera which I now propose to separate as 

 distinct Natural Families, have been cultivated in our gardens 

 from almost time immemorial, yet no plants have been less un- 

 derstood in regard to their botanical characters, or to the station 

 they ought to occupy in the Natural System ; affording a 

 striking confirmation of the justness of a common remark, and 

 which applies equally well in botany, that what we have daily 

 before our eyes we most frequently overlook as unworthy our 

 regard. The genera Philadelphus and Punica, which form the 

 subject of this paper, constitute two very natural groups. They 



