includinff a new Arrangement of Phanerogamous Plants. 89 



is possible that in all these genera the raphe may be lateral^ as 

 in Schizandra and Magnoliacese ; and to this may be added^ that 

 in a Menispermum having two ovules, the lower one is oblique or 

 almost horizontal. Limnocharis Humboldtii has the ovules ascend- 

 ing with the raphe averse, and a part of the ovules in Nymphaa 

 are pendulous with the raphe next it, which seems to show that 

 it may occur in Endogens ; but in the latter instance many of 

 them have the raphe averse, and some of the ovules of the 

 former have the raphe variable, if not next the placenta or dorsal 

 surface of the carpel to which they are attached *. 



But supposing the position of the raphe next the placenta in 

 Endogens to be the consequence of torsion of the funiculus, 

 another question would then arise, viz. as to whether many of 

 the instances in which the raphe has this relation to the placenta 

 are not also the consequence of torsion ; to which the only reply 

 that at present offers, is that the cases before alluded to, in which 

 the ovules are horizontal and the raphe on the under surface, 

 show beyond doubt that this position of the raphe is not to be 

 ordinarily referred to that cause. 



In conclusion it may be observed, as a remarkable circum- 

 stance, that while pendulous ovules with the raphe averse and 

 the raphe lateral occur in several instances in the same family, 

 and it seems not unlikely may exist in the same genus, as the 

 vertical and horizontal positions of the seed in Chenopodium 

 and Atriplex appear to be equivalent characters, yet pendu- 

 lous ovules with the raphe turned away from the placenta and 

 the raphe next it are not known in the same family, nor yet 

 even the raphe lateral and the raphe next the placenta. And 

 although the raphe lateral in the case of ovules numerous is a 

 character of but little value, yet, looking at the affinities of those 

 families in which a single ovule erect or pendulous lias the raphe 

 lateral, these two positions may be regarded as being of equiva- 

 lent value to ovule pendulous with the raphe averse, and even 

 more decidedly so than ovule erect with the raphe next it. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE IL 



Fig. 1. Coriaria nepalensis, — an ovary in longitudinal section. 

 Fiff. 2. Coriaria myrtifolia, — a transverse section of a fruit. 

 Fig. 3. Mysodendron sp. ; an immatui-e seed, showing the relation the funi- 

 culus has to the hilum or point of attachment ; a, the embryonal 



* I find also that Butomus umiellatus agrees with Limnocharis in the 

 position of the raphe, but I have reasons for beheving that these cases 

 should not be regarded as exceptions, and I would suggest that the ovules 

 are here attached to the inner surface of the placenta, not to the external 

 as in axile and other modes of placentation. 



