268 Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacece. 
DissopetTaLum, nob.—Flores dioici. Masc. omnino Cissampeli- 
dis structura.—Fem. Sepalum unicum, oblongum, subcarno- 
sum. Petala 2, eequalia, dimidio breviora, late orbicularia, 
imo breviter unguiculata, sepalo utrinque lateralia. Stamina 
nulla. Ovarium oblongum, gibbum, 1-loculare, 1—-ovulatum. 
Stylus longiusculus, erectus. Stigma trifidum, laciniis acu- 
tis, reflexis. Fructus ignotus. 
Frutex Madagascariensis et Mauritianus, scandens; folia sub- 
peltata, subcordata, suborbicularia, vel ovata, petiolo limbo 
subequilongo; panicule avillar es, plurime, fasciculate, 
composite ramose, et corymbose, necnon cum ramulo florifero 
racemiformt ; flores minuti: yvacemi 2 axillares, petiolum 
excedens, bracteati; bractez foliiformes, floribus 5-9 pedicel- 
latis fasciculatis minimis donate. 
The single species, Dissopetalum Mauritianum, is described in 
the third volume of the ‘ Contributions to Botany.’ 
CLYPEA. 
This genus was established by Blume, in 1825, upon six species 
from Java; but only one of these 1s congeneric with his type, the 
rest belonging to Loureiro’s genus Stephania, with which he does 
not seem then to have been acquainted. Wight and Arnott, in 
their ‘ Prodromus,’ placed all the species of Stephania in Clypea, 
while, contrariwise, the authors of the ‘Flora Indica’ merged 
the latter genus into Sfephania, on the ground that the number 
of its floral parts is mconstant. In this opinion they were sup- 
ported by Prof. Asa Gray, who stated that he found in C. Fors- 
teri trimerous as well as tetramerous flowers on the same plant. 
I have since examined the ¢ flowers of the same species, which 
were kindly sent to me by Dr. Asa Gray, and found most of 
them regularly tetramerous, while the others were more or less 
irregularly affected by metamorphic influence; but in no one 
instance was I able to detect the decidedly trimerous structure 
of Stephania*. I obtained similar results from the typical spe- 
* Tn one head of twelve 3 flowers, it appeared to me that there were six 
which had each eight sepals, four petals, and one stamen; one had nine 
sepals and five petals, one with seven sepals and four petals, one with six 
sepals and four petals, one with seven sepals and three petals, and one 
double flower with fourteen sepals, eight petals, and two stamens, one of 
which was much dwarfed: hence there existed, in all, twelve stamens, 
forty-eight petals, and ninety-one sepals, averaging for each flower the 
number of more than seven and a half sepals, four petals, and one stamen. 
If account had been taken of the rudimentary parts, dwarfed to a size so 
minute as to escape ordinary observation, the full normal proportion of 
floral parts would be complete. In this species the sessile flowers are so 
