1854.] Linnean Society. 333 



June 20, 1854. 

 Thomas Bell, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Read the commencement of a paper " On the Structure of the 

 Seed and peculiar form of the Embryo in the Clusiacece." By John 

 Miers, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. 



The author stated it to be his object to direct the attention of bo- 

 tanists to the structure of the seed, and particularly of the embryo 

 in this family, the nature of which had been hitherto quite misun- 

 derstood. During his residence in Brazil he had made several ob- 

 servations on the Clusiacece, which he hoped would assist in defining 

 the characters and limits of the genera, hitherto very imperfectly 

 described. These more general remarks would be reserved for a 

 future occasion, his object being now confined, as a matter of primary 

 importance, to the consideration of the semifial structure observable 

 in this family. 



He began by tracing a histor}'^ of the facts and conclusions re- 

 corded on the subject. The earliest is that of Jussieu in 1789, where, 

 in his ordinal character of the Guttiferce, he states that the embryo 

 is erect, without albumen, and with hard corky cotyledons, a cha- 

 racter probably drawn only from Calophyllum. Gsertner next figured 

 the analysis of three species of Garcinia, and described the seed as 

 having a coriaceous testa, a thin integument, and a solid fleshy nucleus 

 exhibiting in its axis a difi^erent development of a terete form, the whole 

 constituting one compact inseparable mass : from these facts he con- 

 cluded, contrary to the opinion of Jussieu, that the great body of the 

 nucleus is a large albumen, and that the axile portion is a pseudo- 

 monocotyledonous embryo, all closely united together in one solid 

 body. Richard, in 1811, figured the analysis of the seed of Clusia 

 palmicida, and it is singular that although the structure of Pekea 

 (Caryocar^ tuberculosa, described at the same time, has been copied 

 into every botanical work since published, the equally important 

 facts recorded of the seed of Clusia have entirely escaped the notice of 

 every succeeding botanist except Jussieu. Richard there correctly 

 describes the seed of Clusia as being enveloped in pulp, one extre- 

 mity of its brittle testa pierced with an aperture, beneath which the 

 nucleus exhibits a small protuberance cleft in two, which he states to 

 be two minute cotyledons, the principal mass of the embryo being 

 an enormous radicle : he points out the existence of an inner inte- 

 gument, one end of which is attached to the aperture in the extre- 



No. LIX. — Proceedings of the Ltnnean Society. 



