368 Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacee. 
stamens, instead of six, which opinion is sanctioned by the au- 
thors of the new ‘Genera Plantarum’ in saying “vix satis a 
Cocculo differt.” Such an opinion must have been formed with- 
out their having examined the plants with sufficient attention. 
The general habit of Menispermum, its many-lobed, cordate, 
peltate (not palate) leaves, the form of its petals, and the variable 
number of its floral parts are quite at variance with Cocculus ; and 
at the same time there is so wide a difference in the organization 
of its putamen and seed that the two genera cannot even remain 
in the same tribe. In Menispermum the very compressed puta- 
men has a condyle m the form of two very thin, reniform, and 
closely parallel plates, round the edge of which the narrow and 
nearly annular cell is circumfluent, and this is externally marked 
by one dorsal and two lateral prominent terete rings, finely cre- 
nated across, and leaving corresponding impressions inside the 
cell: the albumen, which fills the cell, is therefore in the form 
of a narrow tricarinated ring; and it contains an almost filiform 
embryo, in which the slender cotyledons are about the length of 
the radicle, and not broader than it. In Cocculus, on the other 
hand, the putamen is much more globular, has no prominent 
lateral ridges, and only a small smooth dorsal carina; the con- 
dyle forms a large thick bony mass, round which the nearly an- 
nular broad cell, flattened on the ventral side, is circumscribed ; 
and it is divided by a septum into two lateral chambers, each 
having an external aperture: the seed has the cyclical shape of 
the cell, and its embryo, imbedded in albumen, is formed of two 
transversely broad, foliaceous, incumbent cotyledons, of twice 
the length and four times the breadth of the terete radicle. 
Under such opposite conditions of structure, it is difficult to 
conceive how the idea of a close approximation of the two genera 
could have been entertained. The validity of Menispermum as 
a very distinct genus is unquestionable: as now restricted, it 
has been well defined by Prof. Asa Gray; but it is desirable to 
amplify its diagnosis in the following manner :— 
MenisrerMuM, Tournef., Linn.—/ores dioici. Mase. Sepala 6 
(interdum abortu 4), biserialia, exteriora minora, spathulato- 
oblonga, membranacea, concava, estivatione imbricata. Pe- 
tala numero varia, 6-9, obovata, unguiculata, concava, apice 
subeucullata, lateribus supra medium auriculatis et involutis. 
Stamina 12-18, interdum 24, centro pluriserialiter affixa: 
jilamenta compresso-teretia ; anthere ovate, basifixee, filamento 
latiores, 2-lobze, lobis adnatis, margine longitudinaliter dehis- 
centibus.—Fem. Sepala et petala ut in masc., sed latiora et 
breviora. Stamina sterilia tot quot petala, et iis opposita, 
apice 2-glandulosa, imo gyneecii aftixa. Ovaria 8, gibba, 
