28 



" From the above it appears, that of the species presumed to be in- 

 troduced into the Galapagos through various agencies, about 40, or 

 nearly so, have exalbuminous seeds ; and of the 50 albuminous-seed- 

 ed ones, the majority have that substance dense or carnose ; some 

 farinaceous, but only two or three oily. These results agree to a con- 

 siderable extent with what the gardener practically deduces, from the 

 success or failure which attends the planting of seeds from foreign 

 climes. The Leguminosse and Solaneae, the very two orders the 

 Galapagos' proportion of which shows so undue an amount of conti- 

 nental American species, are in miscellaneous collections of seeds, 

 those which best retain their vitality during long voyages." — p. 256. 

 This paper is concluded by comparative enumerations of the spe- 

 cies found in the islands of this group. 



XI. On the Ambrosi?ia ciliata of Roxburgh. By the late William 

 Griffith, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 



An exceedingly curious plant, belonging to the Aroidese, and sepa- 

 rated from the genus Ambrosina by Fischer, by whom the generic 

 name of Cryptocoryne was conferred upon it. Many peculiarities are 

 exhibited by the seeds of this plant during the progress of develop- 

 ment, not the least curious of which is the spontaneous separation of 

 the cotyledon from the embryo, about the period of the dehiscence of 

 the fruit. This circumstance presents an exception to the general 

 law of the necessity for the presence of cotyledons. Mr. Griffith, 

 however, and apparently with justice, says he is " inclined to think 

 from this and some other instances, that the presence of a highly de- 

 veloped plumula occasionally obviates this necessity," as is most pro- 

 bably the case with the present plant, in which the plumule is 

 enormously developed. Three plates are filled with details of the 

 anatomical structure of the plant and its organs of impregnation and 

 of reproduction in their various stages of development. 



XIV. Descrij)tion of the Asafoetida Plant of Central Asia. By 

 Hugh Falconer, M.D., F.L.S., &c. 



The plant here fully described under the name of Narthex Asafoe- 

 tida, is the Ferula Asafoetida of Linnaeus, and the Asafoetida Disgu- 

 nensis or "Hingisch" of Ksempfer; and is believed not "to have 

 been met with since it was examined in situ by that excellent and 

 careful observer upwards of a century and a half ago." Dr. Falconer 

 met with it " growing wild in the valley of Astore, one of the subordi- 

 nate valleys of the Indus, behind Cashmere, about the middle of 

 September, 1838, when returning from an exploratory journey into 

 the Thibetan region of central Asia." It was then dried up, and the 



