222 Transactions. — Botany. 



in the axils formed by the union of the primary veins with the 

 midrib. They are never more than ^ inch in length, and, are 

 usually much less. Inside they are lined with numerous stiff 

 white hairs, which, on being treated with caustic potash, are 

 seen to be composed of two or three cells. So far as I have 

 observed, the pits do not secrete anything, and I am quite 

 unable to guess at their function. They are often inhabited by 

 a minute yellow acarid, which makes use of them as a home. 

 Sometimes two or three acarids may be found in the same pit, 

 and they crawl freely about the young leaves and branches. 



Stipules. — All the species possess interpetiolar stipules. They 

 are more or less triangular in shape, often with minute denticu- 

 lations towards the apex. The margins, or the whole surface, 

 are frequently ciliated or puberulous. At their bases they are 

 generally connate with the petioles, thus forming a short sheath 

 round the branch. In C. linariifolia, especially on the young 

 leafy branches, the sheaths are elongated, and form a very con- 

 spicuous, though variable character. 



At the apex of the very young stipule a gland is situated 

 which secretes a copious supply of a viscid mucilaginous fluid. 

 These glands are highly developed and in an active state when 

 the adjacent leaves are in the early stages of growth, but shrivel 

 up and cease to secrete long before the leaves attain their fall 

 size. Their office is evidently to keep the young and tender 

 leaves and branches plentifully bathed with fluid. 



IndumnUum. — Many of the species have puberulous or 

 pubescent branches, and some have the under-surface, or both 

 surfaces, of the leaves similarly provided, C. rotimdifoUa, C. areo- 

 lata, and C. ciliata being perhaps the most conspicuous examples. 

 The degree of pubescence is, however, a very variable :"^:iracter 

 throughout the genus, and can only be employed with consider- 

 able caution for systematic purposes. 



Infiorescence. — It is not always easy to understand the ar- 

 rangement and position of the flowers, especially in some of the 

 small-leaved species. The most developed inflorescence is seen 

 in C. prandifolia, where it consists of trichotomously-divided 

 many-flowered cymes, springing from the axils of the leaves. 

 Those cymes are often 3 inches in length, and bear from 20-10 

 flowers in the males, but a much smaller number in the females. 

 At each division of the axis is a pair of connate leaf-like bracts. 

 The ultimate divisions terminate in little clusters of flowers, 

 each cluster being enclosed at the base by a shallow involucel 

 formed by a pair of depauperated leaves and their stipules. 

 Minute bracts are also preseut at the base of each flower. In 

 C. luciila the inflorescence has precisely the same structure, but 

 through the iuteruodes of the primary and secondary axes being 

 shortened it is much more compact. The internodes being still 

 further reduced in length, we reach the arrangement seen in 



