xl PEOCEEDINGS OP THE 



that we have here a wind-fertilized species of a family ordinarily 

 fertilized by insects, an hypothesis which is again confirmed by the 

 total absence of hairs on the style of Pringlea. 



An extract was read of a letter from Harry Bolus, Esq., F.L.S., 

 to Dr. Hooker, dated Graaf Eeinet, April 4th, 1874, in which he 

 comments adversely on some of the reasonings contained in G-rise- 

 bach's ' Vegetation der Erde ' in favour of the theory of " inde- 

 pendent centres of creation." Grrisebach, relying chiefly on an 

 observation of Burchell's, makes the Orange Eiver the boundary 

 between the Cape and Kalahari proviuces, a boundary which Mr. 

 Bolus shows to be untenable, at least in certain portions. Grrise- 

 bach unites the Kanoo flora with that of the Cape province ; while 

 Mr. Bolus doubts whether it does not differ more from this than 

 from the Kalahari. The Eoggeveld, and indeed the whole Kanoo, 

 by its predominance of shrubby Compositse, seems to incline 

 more to the desert type of plants than to the richer Cape flora. 



The following papers were then read, viz. : — 



1. " On the Eesemblances between the Bones of Typical Living 

 Eeptiles and the Bones of other Animals." By Harry Q-. Seeley, 

 Esq., E.L.S. 



2. " On the Auxemmese, a new Tribe of Cordiacese." By J. 

 Miers, Esq., Y.P.L.S. 



This new tribe of Cordiacese is remarkable for the atropous 

 development of its ovules and seeds : besides this character, it is 

 notable for the extraordinary growth of its calyx in the fruit, in 

 some cases amounting to thirty times its original size. The tribe 

 consists of six genera — Auxemma, a new genus from Brazil ; Sa- 

 cellium of Bonpland, from Ecuador ; Patagonula of Linnaeus, of 

 still older date, from South America; Hymenesthes, Paradigma, 

 and PlethostepJiia from Cuba. In Auxemma the calyx takes the 

 largest development, appearing like a large bladder, 5-angled and 

 deeply plicated, as in Physalis, in the centre of which is a fleshy 

 drupe the size of a sloe-plum, which contains a muricated osseous 

 nut, 4-angled, 4-celled, or, by abortion, sub-2-celled ; a single seed 

 is fixed in the bottom of each cell by a small hilum, which cor- 

 responds with the chalaza, so that it has no raphe ; the embryo, 

 without albumen, has a small superior radicle and large longitu- 

 dinally plicated cotyledons. Sacellium corresponds with Auxemma 



