- 
of the Family of Burmanniacee. 377 
dried state in Thismia, although it has 6 almost imperceptible nervures; the 
corona is circular, not hexagonal: it differs also in the shape and disposition 
of the filaments, which are quite distinct and unconnected, while in Thismia, 
although at first separate in their origin, they soon become united into a 
long and completely monadelphous pendulous tube with 12 distinct ner- 
vures*: the anther-cells are here arranged in 6 pairs, near the commence- 
ment ‘of the line of tubular junction, each pair consisting of 2 distinct and 
unconnected lobes, separated by the nerval lines that spring from the corona ; 
alternate with these are 6 other nervures, arising from each sinus formed by 
the junction of the filaments, and terminating in as many coloured glands, at 
the points where the tube again becomes cleft into a double line of 6 equal 
pairs of thin parallel truncated lamine, one overlapping the other, each being 
fringed at its extremity by 3 or more teeth. In Ophiomeris, on the con- 
trary, the filaments are in no way monadelphous, and are considerably nar- 
rower at their origin; the anthers are placed, not towards the middle, but 
close to the apex of the filament, which is remarkable for its 2 obtuse termi- 
nating lobes and winged lateral appendages; the 2 cells of the anther, too, 
are laterally conjoined, not in separate lobes as in the Asiatic genus. 
The alliance of Thismia to Burmanniacee did not escape the notice of Mr. 
Griffith, although on the whole he was somewhat more disposed to compare it 
with Tacca, on account of the analogy in the number and direction of the sta- 
mens fixed on a 6-partite perianthium, and the parietal placentation of the 
seeds: but it is clear that this eminent botanist was not then aware of the 
structure of the ovarium in the section dpteriew, which I have proposed in the 
last-mentioned natural order. In fine, I have no hesitation in referring both 
Thismia and Ophiomeris to Burmanniaceee, notwithstanding that both these 
genera differ from all others of this order in the greater number of stamens, 
their reflected position, the annular corona, the circumscissure of the perian- 
thium, and the opercular opening of the capsule; but the character of the order 
* This is rather indistinctly shown in vol. xix. pl. 39, illustrative of Mr. Griffith's memoir above-cited, 
where the separation of the filaments at their origin, and their subsequent junction into a tubular form, 
are not made evident; the former circumstance is however distinctly stated in the text, but the latter 
is too ambiguously worded in page 341 to enable a reader to comprehend the author's true meaning ; 
it is difficult indeed to say which part really constitutes the filament, and which the connective, for the 
whole appears one homogeneous petaloid membrane. 
3D2 
