192 NOTES ON MYRMECODIA. 



Although I think it undesirable to print MS. names which can only 

 be regarded as synonyms, it seems well to do so in this instance, as 

 a means of tracing the description and of correlating it with the 

 drawing, which bears the same name. Solander's description runs : — • 



Epidendroides tetrandra. 



Cnhjx tubulosus, margine integer, basin tubi arete cingens, 1- 

 linearis, albus, tenuis, glaber, srepe obsoletus. 



Corolla monopetala, uivea, subcarnosa, subpellucida. Tubus cylin- 

 draceus, e bulbo sen tubere Si^pe a formicis magna facto, 

 egrediens; 4-linearis. Limhus quadripartitus, parum patulus. 

 Laciniie oblongfe acutpe, subfequales, tubo duplo breviores. 



Filamenta quatuor, fauci ad sinus limbi inserta, alba, erecta, laciuiis 

 corollas duplo breviora, a^qualia. 



Anthera. oblonga?, erectre, c^ruleaj. 



Germen inferum, ovatum, supra truncatum. Stijlns filiformis, albus, 

 staminibus longior. Stiijma quadrifidum. L^r m//s filiformibus 

 crassiusculis. 



Bacca (sub superficie bulbi recondita) ovali oblonga. i-uncialis, 

 albido-subdiaphana, glaberrima, apice parum attenuata, ibique 

 truncata, subquadrilocularis. 



Semina quatuor, unum in singulo locule, oblonga apice attenuata, 

 pulpa glutinosa involuta. 



Folia omnia radicalia, oblonga, immerse paucivenosa, crassa, coriacea. 



Bnlhi parasitici (praecipue in Melaleuca Mscr.). Tuber 



subrotundo-puriforme [pyriforme] ,nonvero obtuse angulatum, 

 fuscum, verrucosum, verrucis spinulosis saepe magnitudine 

 capitis humani, interne carnosum, albidum. Fonnis .... 

 nidum prc'ebens ; life enim per totam substantiam formant 

 ambulacra & cellulas labyrinthi instar intricatas ; has in- 

 habitant & in intra has soboles suas nutricantur. Et h;t'C 

 nullo detrimento radicis ! Nidus Germinans Humph. Amb. 6, 

 p. 119, i. 55, f. 2. 



The admirable drawing of this plant which John Frederick 

 Miller made in 1773 from Sydney Parkinson's sketch corresponds 

 so entirely with the figure of ]\I. Bcccarli Hook. f. that there can be 

 no doubt as to the identity of Banks's plant with that species — an 

 identity which is confirmed by Sir Joseph Hooker, who has seen the 

 drawing. The sketch is endorsed in Banks's hand " Endeavours 

 River," and this is important, as no specimens seem to have been 

 preserved, nor do I find any reference to them in any of the 

 Banksian or Solandrian MSS. or lists of the collections, unless, as 

 I suspect, the entry "Ant's Nest" at the end of one of the rough 

 lists of the plants of the voyage refers to the ]\I)/nnecodia. It is 

 strange that so remarkable a plant was not selected for engraving, 

 but neither plate nor engraving exists. 



We have in the British Museum Herbarium a fine specimen of 

 a Mijrmecodia collected on Jobie Island — the home of many species 

 of Mijrmecodia and Hydnophytum—hy George Barclay on the voyage 

 of the Sulj^hur in 1840. I had hoped that this would prove to be 



