249 



looked upon the scales as constituting the true corolla, and as alter- 

 nating with the stamens : — 



" This view is manifestly incorrect, for the scales constitute a complete internal 

 whorl, each of them being connected with its neighbour so as to form a short tube, the 

 upper edge of which is always free and distinct from the corolla (calyx of Eeich.), and 

 the lower parts of the filaments of the stamens may be traced under the cuticle of the 

 corolla, descending exactly behind the centre of each scale. It is perfectly clear, there- 

 fore, that the scales cannot represent petals, since the whorl of stamens is invariably 

 found within that of petals, but in this plant the stamens are situated further from the 

 axis of the flower than the so-called corolla. 



" I do not attempt to form any theory concerning these minute organs, but hope 

 that some fortunate botanist will soon discover them in such a state of monstrous de- 

 velopment as to show what is their real nature. 



" That the number of scales is equal to that of the segments of the corolla is proved 

 by their structm'e in C. epithymum, in which plant they are not even divided into two 

 lobes, [tig. 3]. There is not, indeed, the slightest trace of a division to be discovered 

 with a very high power of the microscope. I ought to add, that Reichenbach does not 

 continue the above theory in his 'Flora Excursoria;' but reverts to the old nomencla- 

 ture."— 214. 



Referring to Reichenbach's figure of the opened flower of Cuscuta 

 europaea (Ic. PI. v. f. 690, B., our fig. 2) Mr. Babington makes the fol- 

 lowing obsers^ations, which we particularly recommend to the notice 

 of our readers. 



" It will be seen that this last differs materially from my fig. 1 . May not his plant 

 be a distinct species characterized by its constantly 4-cleft corolla and palmate sexfid 

 scales ? This genus is well deserving of attention from Biitish botanists, for several 

 other species are inown in Germany, Sweden, and France, which most probably exist 

 in these islands." — p. 215. 



Since the publication of the paper from which the above extracts 

 are made, Mr. Babington has examined Cuscuta epilinum and halo- 

 phyta, and in both these species he has detected the presence of scales. 

 His observations are contained in the paper the title of which is given 

 above. 



" In the first of these plants, Cuscuta epilinum, Weihe, we find a ventricose tube 

 furnished with a whorl of adpressed bifid scales, each branch of which is usually divi- 

 ded in a rather irregular manner into two or three fingerlike points, as I have endea- 

 voured roughly to represent in fig. 1 , [our fig. 4] ; the divisions of the corolla terminate 

 in acute points, and the stamens have very short filaments and are inserted much higher 

 up than the extremity of the scales. 



" In Reichenbach's figure of this plant in his ' Icones Plant.' tab. 693, the scales 

 are vei^y incorrectly given, each of them being there represented as two minute, sepa- 

 rate, roundish bodies, pointing downwards. Specimens received from him (No. 19 of 

 his Fl. Germ, exsic), gathered near Borna, in the neighbourhood of Chemnitz, by M. 



