286 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxxii 



and the dissimilarity is reduced to a trace of erosion of the 

 margins of the petals in contrast with the quite entire 

 margins of the sepals. 



It would appear, then, that difference in size, shape, and 

 spotting, between sepals and petals, is practically discarded 

 as a generic character of Nomocharis. 



In support of this we tind in the Oxypetala series 

 ffuctuations in respect of these characters, and whilst all 

 of them have upon the pointed tips of all the perianth- 

 segments the reduced marginal outgrowths mentioned 

 above as appearing in Nomocharis, in one, — F. loi^hophora — 

 as Frauchet himself points out, the base of the petaline 

 segments is always minutely fringed. 



Fringed Basal Foveola on Petaline Segments. — This 

 character is made much of by Franchet, and he says it 

 is seen in no allied genus. It requires therefore particular 

 investigation. 



The dice-box form of perianth that gives the name to 

 Fritillaria is in great measure a consequence of the develop- 

 ment in the middle line of each perianth-segment of a 

 glanduhir area, long or short, forming a shallow pit or a 

 deeper pit (foveola) with its long axis coincident with that 

 of the segments. It occurs higher up or lower down on 

 the segments, always below its middle, and gives a bulge 

 outwards to the segments at the point where it occurs, 

 its tissue being firmer, more fleshy, and usually darker 

 coloured than the adjacent matrix of the segment. The 

 surface of this area is coated with short projections — the 

 excreting agents. This glandular area occurs on every 

 perianth-segment. In the section Rhinopetalum of Fritil- 

 laria the bulge it forms is emphasised, and I take it gave 

 origin to the sectional name. In the section Petilium — in 

 so many features different from Eufritillaria — the form 

 of the gland is nearly circular and it is basal but its 

 position central on the; perianth-segments. Now in Nomo- 

 charis the construction is different : — 



{a) The sepaline segments have no glandular area. That 

 is restricted to the three petaline segments. 



(Ij) The glandular area is not in the middle line of the 

 segment. 



(c) The middle line is occupied by a strong midrib pro- 



