RUPPIA, 197 
majusculos (fovillam) includens, apicibus interdum cons- 
trictis. 
Ovaria 4 subsessilis cum antheris alternant. oblongá, glabra 
Stylus nullus, Stigma discoid, magnum. Ovulum unicum, 
hincoblique gibbosum subsessile, foramen apicale, tegument 
cellulosa exterius laxum. Spad. pedunculus demum paullo 
elongatus rectus. 
Capsula ovata in apicem pedicelli albi subclavati fere uncia- 
lis; apice stigmati coronata parietes cellulosa. Pyrena tenuia, 
conforme, nigram osseam apice attenuata in corpore styli- 
forme acuto stigmata attingens, epicarpium solubile erectum, 
secus faceum internam sulca lanceolata notat. 
Parietes ejus crassi sunt spongiosi, et cavitatibus parvis 
excavati. 
Semen pendulum albumen : tegument exterius laxum cellu- 
losum interius simili sed tenuius foramine laterali ! 
Embryo conforme carnosus, e radicula maxime crassissimus 
aspectu albuminis, obtusissimus, apicem geometricam seminis 
oblonga speetápa. Cotyledone cylindraceus parvus, in basi ra- 
dicis incumbens. pue inclusa, minima, in basis hujus, 
fissura minima e rumpen 
T have not met with йоду in a state sufficient to war- 
rant me in forming any conclusion as to the fact of the nu- 
cleus changing its position or not. 
Ruppia appears to me to be a cellular plant, the stem con- 
sists of a central bundle of longitudinal tissue, and the 
space between this and the circumference is occupied by air 
cells of the usual formation, I have not been apie to trace 
the existence of any vessels. 
The division of the axis is dichotomous, an arrangement 
which pervades throughout the lower orders of vegetables, 
and which would seem to mark this as a transition from flow- 
ering to flowerless plants. 
The leaves consist of two tubes, separated by a septum 
which occupies the centre, a similar structure exists in some 
other aquatic plants. 
