1854.] Linnean Society. 271 



that Ozycladus presents far greater discrepancjea in relation to the 

 Myoporacece than to the Bignoniacee. In Myopormoets, in nearly 

 all cases, the leaves are alternate ; the flowers hare always didyna- 

 mous stamens, without any rudiment of a fifth ; the ovarium is only 

 bilocalar in two instances, which he has elsewhere shown (.\nn. Nat. 

 Hist. 2nd. Ser. xi. 439) are doobtfal, or at least almonnal genera 

 of the order ; in nine other genera tlie OTariom is ^stinctly four- 

 celled, with a single ovule suspended from the apex of each cell, and 

 this ripens into a four-celled ligneous indehiscent nnt, with a seed 

 in each cell. The only remaining case is BomiM, which differs 

 from all others of this family in having originally a bilocalar ova- 

 rium, but where by the subsequent growth and inflexion of the 

 placentae, eight peendo-cells are produced, each with a single sus- 

 pended ovule. This ripens into a hard indehiscent eight-celled nnt, 

 each cell producing a single seed, with a thick osseous testa, which 

 is often confluent with the sides of the cell. Mr. Miere's knowledge 

 of this genus is derived wholly from the descriptions of authors, and 

 he finds no observations of a more recent date than those of Gaertner 

 and Jacquin; our evidence of its real stmctnre is therefore imperfect, 

 but enough is recorded to show that it b a very anomalous form, if 

 it really belong to the Myoporaeex. It is a large tree, 30 feet 

 high, has a trunk 2 feet in diameter, with a lai^ head of thick 

 foliage ; its leaves are always alternate, somewhat senated, marked 

 with transparent dots, and have an acrimonious taste. Boatim occuib 

 in the West Indies, while all other species of Myoporacece are 

 found in Australia, in Asia, or id the islands of the Pacific bordering 

 on that continent. 



The author next proceeded to indicate those points of structure in 

 Orycladus which establish the relative value of its affinity to the 

 Myoporeuxde, or the BiffHomimcene. In thb geaus, both the branches 

 and rudimentary leaves are distinctly opposite, as in Bignoniaces, in 

 which family we find two other genera, where the branches terminate 

 in spines, viz. Catopkmctes and Rhigosmm : the flowers are bluish, 

 a colour not met with in Myoporacees ; they present a sterile fifth 

 stamen, a circumstance almost constant in Btymommeae, and never 

 seen in Myoporacets ; the anther-cells are distinct, and widely divari- 

 cated upon a large fleshy connective, as in Bignoniacea:, not oscil- 

 latory, lunulate, and opening by a hippocrepiform fissure, and there- 

 fore almost one-celled, as in MyoporacecE-, the ovarium is seated upon 

 a five-lobed fleshy disk, which never occurs in the latter family, thoxigh 

 constant in Bignomiaeeee ; it is completely bilocular, with about six 

 ovules in each cell, suspended and attached by a ventral thread to a 



