138 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



than in C. digitata. — San Diego County : collected in Cajon Valley 

 by D. Cleveland, and at Larken's Station near the Jacumba Mountains 

 by Dr. E. Palmer. 



CucuRBiTA Californica, Torrey MS. in herb. Imperfect speci- 

 mens of tills species were collected by Dr. E. Pickering on the 

 Wilkes Exploring Expedition, at some locality in the Sacramento 

 Valley. Tiie foliage is much like that of the last, but the flowers are 

 smaller, scarcely more than an inch long, exceeding the slender pedi- 

 cels ; calyx-teeth short and linear. 



Megaurhiza Guadalupensis.* Nearly glabrous, the inflores- 

 cence somewhat pubescent : leaves thin, 3-5-lobed to the middle ; 



* MEGARRHIZA, Torrey. The species of this genus have been imperfectly 

 studied, owintj to want of material, and the only one at all well known has been 

 the original M. Californica, tlie Echinocijatis fubacm of Xaudin. As already 

 pointed out by Dr. Gray and Dr. Torrey, the genus is separated from the east- 

 ern Echinociistis by its thick perennial roots, its large turgid inimarginate seeds, 

 and its thickened fleshy cotyledons, which remain subterranean in germination, 

 — characters which hold good in all the species, and may be considered as suf- 

 ficiently distinctive. The following are the species at present known, the 

 characters subject to modification as fuller material may require. Considerable 

 diversity is shown in the internal structure of the fruit, which may perhaps be 

 found to vary to some extent even in the same species. 



1. M. CALiFonN-iCA, Torrey. Nearly glabrous; stems very long: leaves 

 5-7-lobed, rarely to the middle ; lobes broadly triangular, abrupth' acute : fer- 

 tile flowers without abortive stamens : ovary globose, densely echinate, 2 celled 

 (rarely 3-4-celled), the cells 1-2-ovuled; ovules attached to the outer side, the 

 lower ascending, the upper horizontal : fruit globose or ovoid, two inches long, 

 beset with stout almost pungent spines (a half to an inch long), 1-4-seeded : 

 seed obovoid, ten lines long, surrounded lengthwise by a shallow groove or 

 darker line, the hilum at the end. — Pacif. K. Kep. 6. 74. Echinoci/stis fahacea, 

 Naudin, Ann. Sci. Nat. 4. 12. 154, t. 9, and IG. 188. Near the coast from Punta 

 de los Reyes to San Diego. 



2. M. Marah. Scabrous or nearly smooth ; stems very long : leaves nearly 

 as in the last: fertile flowers with abortive stamens : ovary oblojig-ovate, more 

 or less covered with soft spines, 2-3-celled : ovules 1 to 4 or more in each cell, 

 ascending or horizontal, attached to the outer side of the cell : fruit ovate-ob- 

 long, four inches long, somewhat attenuate at each end, more or less beset 

 with weak spines : seeds horizontally imposed, flattish, suborbicular or irregu- 

 larly elliptical, an inch in diameter, about half as thick, with an obscure mar- 

 ginal furrow and prominent lateral hilum. — Marah miiriaitux, Kellogg, Proc. 

 Cahf. Acad. 1. 38. Near San Francisco Bay, at Bolinas, Saucelito, Alameda, 

 Redwood, Corte Madera, &c. 



3. M. Oregona, Torrey. Much like the last: fertile flowers without abor- 

 tive stamens : young fruit similar in shape, sparingly muricate with soft spines, 



