827 



have become a terrible nuisance, themselves robbers, depriving bet- 

 ter plants of the soil, inaccessible hiding-places for the great thievish 

 and sanguinary cats, and the still more dangerous human bandits, the 

 thorny weed of semi-civilization." 



Can any reader of the ' Phy tologist ' furnish us with a more ex- 

 tended account of the facts here stated ? The subject is one of 

 importance to all who feel the slightest interest in the geography of 



plants. 



R. C. Douglas. 



Forebridge, Stafford, 



January 10, 1853. 



Extracts from the ' Proceedings of the Linnean Society^ 



(Continued from page 452). > 



On the Position, of the Raphe in Anatropal Ovules ; by Benjamin 

 Clark, Esq., F.L.S., 8fc. 



Mr. Clarke believes that this character, which has hitherto attracted 

 but partial attention, is a character of much constancy in the several 

 families, and therefore deserving a more complete examination. He 

 states the most usual position of the raphe, when each of the cai'pel- 

 lary margms bears a single row of anatropal ovules, as in Pseonia, to 

 be lateral and turned towards the raphe of the ovules of the opposite 

 row ; and the curvature of the ovule has the same direction even in 

 cases where the ovule is not anatropal, as in Colutea arborescens. 

 The position of raphe with reference to placenta is less regular where 

 the ovules are more numerous, but in some cases, as in Gomphocar- 

 pus, it is observed to be always next the placenta, the ovules being 

 pendulous with long funiculi ; and in Cuphea and Reaumuria also 

 next the placenta with the ovules erect. 



It is, however, when the anatropal ovule is single that Mr. Clarke 

 believes the position of the raphe affords the most important charac- 

 ters, and he proceeds to consider the various relations which it bears 

 to the placenta under six different heads, as follows : — 



1. Ovule pendulous; raphe turned away from the placenta. 



2. Ovule pendulous ; raphe lateral. 



3. Ovule pendulous ; raphe next the placenta. 



4. Ovule erect ; raphe turned away from the placenta. 



