Dr Grant on the Structure and Nature of Flustroe. 337 



that as a genus, it rests on very insufficient grounds. The tree, 

 however, is evidently related either to Fiats or Brosimum. The 

 juice contained in the phial sent to Mr Lambert had the appearance 

 of sour cream, and, notwithstanding that it had suffered material- 

 ly from the long voyage, the taste was by no means unpalatable. 

 To prevent any misconception of the method taken to increase 

 the female Nutmeg, it may be proper to remark, that, by inarch- 

 i ng, he means inarching the branches of the female tree on the young 

 plants produced from seed, by which mode a certain supply of 

 female trees is obtained ; whereas from seed, several years must 

 elapse before the trees produce flowers, and then the result must 

 be frequently disappointing ; more especially if the disproportion 

 between the number of male and female trees from seed be so 

 sreat as Mr Lockhart has observed. A verv few male trees will 

 be found sufficient for a whole plantation of females. I do not 

 remember of any other instances on record of an absolute change 

 of sex, than the striking ones mentioned above by Mr Lockhart, 

 as occurring in the nutmeg tree. It is a fact well deserving the 

 attention of physiologists. Individual plants, producing at the 

 same time male and female flowers, are of common occurrence. 



Observations on the Structure and Nature qfFlustr(z. By R. 

 E. Grant, M.D. F.R.S.E. F.L.S. M.W.S. Fellow of the 

 Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Prof, of Zoology 

 in the University of London, &c. (Continued from p. 118.) 



In examining the anatomy of the other species of Flustrae 

 above mentioned, more care is required than in the examination 

 of the F. carhasea^ as the two plains of cells composing the 

 branches of the F. foliacea and F. truncata require to be care- 

 fully separated from each other, and the sessile species, F. tela- 

 cea^ F. dentata^ and F. pilosa, require to be removed from the 

 surface of the fuci, or other substances to which they adhere, 

 in order to render them sufficiently transparent to allow their 

 minute structure to be perceived through the reflecting micro- 

 scope. The Flustra foliacea^ Lam., like the F. carhasea^ al- 

 ready described, is an inhabitant of deep water, and is very 

 rarely met with in a fixed situation near the shore, or in places 



JULY SEPTEMBER 1827. Y 



