It forms a new species of the very singular genus Dau- 

 benya, the original of which was published in this work 

 some years ago {Dauhenya aurea, vol. xxi. fol. 1813) ; but 

 it throws no new light upon the affinities of the genus, which 

 must still be supposed to be with Massonia. 



The irregularity observable in the perianth of Dauhenya 

 aurea^ is here carried still further, existing to as great an 

 extent as in the most oblique forms of Bahiana among 

 Iridacese ; and it adds one to the many already known facts 

 leading to the conclusion that irregularity in the floral enve- 

 lopes cannot alone be taken as a sound mark of ordinal dis- 

 tinction. Certainly Liliaceae has been hitherto regarded as 

 one of the most regular-flowered of orders, and yet here is 

 a case in which irregularity in the flower is carried almost 

 as far as the suppression of a part of the floral segments. 

 It will doubtless be found, whenever the limitation of natural 

 orders is reduced to any principles, and ceases to be arbi- 

 trary, that every large order contains irregular and regular 

 flowered genera, and that the greatest value that can be 

 assigned to such a circumstance is that of characterizing 

 some division of the order. 



Among Exogens Ranunculacece, PapaveracecB, Violacece, 

 GeraniacecB, Brassicacecs, ApiacccB, Aster'acecB, Ccmipanulacece, 

 Boj'aginacecB, Caprifoliacece, MalpighiacecBy and a great many 

 others have both regular and irregular flowers ; Scrophu- 

 lariacece with irregular flowers therefore should not be divided 

 from SolanacecB, any more than among Amaryllidacece Hip- 

 peastruin from Vallota. 



In the accompanying figure 1 . represents a flower, mag- 

 nified ; 2. an ovary, style, and stigma ; 3. a transverse 

 section of the ovary. 



