364 Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermaccee. 
ceous margins, which sometimes for half their breadth overlap 
each other in zestivation. In other families where the difference 
is so extremely salient as it is in these instances, it is allowed 
to be a good generic distinction ; and there is no reason for de- 
nying its validity in Hypserpa, especially as it is accompanied 
by other prominent points of divergence. In Limacia the sta- 
mens are equal in number to the petals, whose lateral lobes en- 
tirely embrace the filaments, which are affixed to their claws ; they 
are always in ternary series, and symmetrical, the numbers being 
constantly six in one group, and as regularly three in the other 
section ; the number of ovaries is constantly three. In Hypserpa 
there 1s no symmetry whatever in any of its parts; the sepals 
vary in number in the different species; and the petals are 
equally variable, being four, five, or six, and they do not embrace 
the filaments, though their sides curve inwards; the number of 
stamens is always in excess of the petals, being generally six, 
seven, or eight, and in one instance I found nie; in some spe- 
cies the ovaries are 3, rarely six, and in two species constantly 
two. In Hypserpa the embryo is very slender and terete; im 
Limacia it is somewhat broader, flatter, and Toriform. In Hy yp- 
serpa the radicle is equal in length to, or somewhat longer than, 
the cotyledons ; in Limacia the radicle is only a quarter of their 
length. These valid differences, which I have constantly found 
in all the cases that have fallen under my observation, unques- 
tionably establish the claims of Hypserpa. The same authori- 
ties, after their usual method, annihilate all the species of Hyp- 
serpa, except the type, ignoring all the remainder ; while I have 
here enumerated nine species. 
Hypserra, nob.—Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala numero vario, 8, 
9, usque ad 12, 2—-3-serialia, quorum exteriora bracteiformia, 
ae interiora majora, oblonga, marginibus late membrana- 
ceils erosis et ciliatis, peatiyatione imbricata. Petala 6,5, vel 4, 
sepalis paulo minora, obovata, carnosula. Stamina 6 ad 10, 
biseriata, quorum 4—5-6 exteriora, reliqua centralia ; filamenta 
carnosula, subcompressa, incurvata, apice incrassata; anthere 
2-lobze, lobis ovatis, distinctis, subobliquis, apice filamenti 
utroque latere subimmersis, rima longitudinali dehiscentibus. 
. Fem. Sepala 8, oblonga, crassiuscula, margine membranacea, 
imbricatim disposita, quorum 2 exteriora bracteiformia. Pe- 
tala 5-6, oblonga, concayva, carnosula. Stamina sterilia 6, 
cum petalis gynecio inserta, apice clavata, antheris subobso- 
letis. Ovaria 6, rarius 3, interdum 2, gynecio centrali insita; 
stylus brevissimus ; stigma oblongo-lineare, profunde canali- 
culatum, subtrilobum, vel incisum. Drupe abortione 2-3, 
transversim ovate, carnose, styli vestigio basi propinquo no- 
