50 EPIPHYTES FROM CAPE YORK, NORTH AUSTRALIA. 
In interioribus provincie Shan-tung, Chinz borealis, legit Rev. J. 
R. Graves, a. 1866. (Exsice. n. 13250. 
Although I have been unwilling to risk the destruction of the capi- 
tula by subjecting to examination the not fully expanded flowers of the 
only specimen in my possession, yet I have not a doubt of the genus 
to which this interesting plant belongs, on account of the exact resem- 
blance of its capitula and spines to those of C. Rumphii, Thw.; and 
also from the remarkable cucullately-imbricating perigone-lobes, so 
well represented by Blume. (Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. ii. t. 31.) 
CURIOUS EPIPHYTES FROM CAPE YORK, NORTH 
AUSTRALIA. 
By Gronerz Bennett, M.D., F.L.S. 
Captain Nares, of H.M.S. Salamander, brought from Cape York, 
on the 15th September, 1866, some very curious Hpiphytes, which he 
presented to the Botanic Gardens at Sydney. They were found grow- 
ing on old trees in the form of large irregular tubers, and fastened to 
them by fibrous roots; from these tubers arose a few thick, short, 
fleshy branches, the leaves being crowded at their rounded extremities. 
These plants were considered, when first brought, to be new, and new 
they certainly were, as far as having been discovered in Australia; but 
it has since been ascertained that they are natives of the Molucca 
Islands, Sumatra, and Java. The two plants are of allied genera of 
the Natural Order Rubiaceæ, and were first described and figured by 
Rumphius (Herb, Amboyn, vol. vi. p. 119, 1750), and subsequently 
by Dr. Jack, in 1823 (Linn. Trans. vol. xiv. p. 122). One is Myr- 
mecodia armata, of which the bark of the tuber is covered with small 
thorns, and is of a grey colour; the leaves are leathery, long, narrow, 
and of a dark green colour. The other is Hydnophytum formicarum, 
the bark of which is smooth, and of a greyish colour; the leaves are 
small, leathery, and of a dark green colour. De Candolle describes 
two species in each genus—Myrmecodia tuberosa (Molucca) and M. 
armata (Java), Hydnophytum formicarum (Molucca) and H. montanum 
(Java) ; of these, M. armata and H. formicarum are now known to be 
also indigenous to Australia. Both genera were brought by Captain 
Nares from Cape York, at the same time and in about equal numbers, 
