of the Family of Burmanniacez. — 379 
the dehiscence is effected by the rending of the thin membrane, both of the 
disc and the walls of the cell, in the manner shown in Tas. XXXVII. fig. 1,7. 
and fig. 2, l. of the eighteenth volume of the Society's * Transactions.’ 
If, again, we imagine the stamens of Apteria with their curiously-expanded 
connective, retroflexed at their origin, we should see a structure of these or- 
gans quite analogous to that existing in Ophiomeris. Such considerations, 
combined with other manifest characters, serve at once to clear the way for 
the admittance of these plants into Burmanniacee, in which natural order I 
propose to class Ophiomeris and Thismia, under a distinct section, to which 
the name of Thismiew may be given. This family would hence be subdivided 
as follows :— 
BuRMANNIACES. 
1. BunMANNIEX. Perianth. tripterum. Stam. 3. Ovar. 3-locul. Placent. centrales. 
Capsula longit. dehiscens. . . . . . . + + + 1, Burmannia. 
Capsula transv. fenestrata gore eae 2, Gonyanthes. 
2. APTERIEE. Perianth. exalatum. Stam. 3. Ovar. l-locul. Placent. 3 parietales. 
CONUM trem, SND 7 2. s. rc. S9 9. ZNetyostiie. 
Capsulalateral. hians . . . . . . . «© . . . 4. Cymbocarpa. 
Capsula apice 3-valvis. Stamina appendiculata . . . 5. Apteria. 
Capsula irreg. dehiscens. Petala nula . . . . . . 6. Gymnosiphon. 
3. Tuiswrms. Perianth. exalatum. Stam. 6. Ovar. 1-locul. Placent. 3 parietales. 
Pericarpium circumscissum. i 
Tub. regul. Stam. monadelph. . . ... . . . . 7. Thismia, 
Tub. gibbus., Stam. omninò libera . . . . . . . 8. Ophiomeris. 
Having before alluded to the fact suggested by Mr. Griffith of the analogy 
which these two genera bear to T'acca, I will now, before making any obser- 
vation on this head, first point out the remarkable resemblance in habit and 
into the cavity of the cell; but whether the above-mentioned process formed the communicating me- 
dium of impregnation from the stigmata to the ovules, or whether it was foreign to its structure, I had 
no further means of ascertaining. I feel disposed however to prefer the former view, as it would seem 
to bear some analogy to the 2 glandular lobes that I formerly observed beneath the disc upon the ter- 
mination of each of the 3 placentary ribs in the capsules of Dictyostega, Cymbocarpa, and Apteria, 
and which are represented in Tas. XXXVIII. fig. 4, m, illustrative of my memoir above-cited, If 
this should be the case, it would become a matter of some interest to ascertain what function these 
glandular masses perform in the process of fecundation, for it is natural to conclude, from their con- 
stant presence, that some definite office is assignable to them, 
