276 Mr D. Don on the Characters and Acuities- 



men, and the structure and position of the embryo, I was after- 

 wards induced to compare it with the Gentianece, to which 

 family, I am now fully persuaded, it must be referred, not- 

 withstanding its toothed leaves and the greater number of its 

 placentae. 



It is rather curious that my learned friend M. Kunth should 

 have also been led to believe it allied to Theoplirasta, but of 

 this fact I was not aware at the time when my observations 

 were made; and the circumstance is only mentioned now, to 

 show that there exist some striking analogies between these two 

 genera to have led us to the same conclusion. 



Not the least trace of pubescence is discernible in the speci- 

 mens of Desfontaima sjnnosa in the Herbarium of Ruiz and 

 Pavon ; but in the separate collection of Ruiz, there are speci- 

 mens of the second species, marked by himself D. spinosa, 

 wherein the calyx is beautifully fringed. It appears to me pro- 

 bable, therefore, that both plants are confounded in the descrip- 

 tion given in the Flora Peruvicma, and that the pubescence is 

 an after addition, either in the drawing or engraving. The 

 figure is altogether very incorrect ; the peduncles are represent- 

 ed as axillary, and without bracteae ; and the anthers, as if they 

 were unilocular, although rightly shown as alternating with the 

 laciniae of the corolla, and not opposite, as represented in the 

 Prodromus of the same authors. 



BALBISIA, Cav. 



LEDOCARPON, Desf. 



Syst. Linn. DECANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. 

 Ord. Nat. FICOIDEiE. NoUs. 



The genus Balbisia was established by Cavanilles, in the 

 seventh volume of the Analcs de Ciencias Naturales, published 

 at Madrid in 1804, where a very full description and figure, 

 including the details of the structure of the flower and fruit, 

 will be found. Fourteen years afterwards, namely, in 1818, 

 the genus was repubhshed by M. Desfontaines, under the name 

 of Ledocarpon ; but as science belongs to no particular region or 

 country, there seems no reason why the name of Cavanilles is to 

 be superseded by the much more recent one of the distinguished 

 French Professor, especially as the Balbisia of Willdenow has 



