ON THE PROTEACEyE OF JUSS1EU. 21 



its form in both these genera will readily serve to separate 

 them from Xylomelum and Bhopala ; and thus also Spatalla 

 remarkably differs from Adenanthos. Upon the whole, 

 however, it seems that its obliquity is of greater import- 

 ance than its form ; for this, when existing in any great 

 degree, is generally accompanied with a corresponding irre- 

 gularity in the calyx : but as this irregularity is produced 

 for the purpose of bringing all the antherse into contact 

 with the stigma, so its obliquity in the dioiceous genera 

 Leucadendron and Aulax is not attended with so great a 

 degree of irregularity, which would here serve no end, im- 

 pregnation depending on the pollen of different individuals, 

 to insure which the surface of the stigma in these genera 

 is rough with papulae ; a circumstance that, together with 

 its form, readily distinguishes them from all others of the 

 order. 



In Si/naphea, the stigma or summit of the style inoscu- 

 lates with the divisions of the barren filament, which in 

 some species appear beyond it in horn-like processes, but 

 in others are entirely lost in its substance. I am acquainted 

 with nothing like this in the whole vegetable kingdom ; 

 and such a singularity alone, when occurring in several dm 

 species, would have determined me to separate these plants 

 from Conospermum: but being also accompanied by other 

 remarkable differences, both of structure and appearance, 

 no genus, I apprehend, can be better founded than this. 



That the opinion of Christian Knaut and Vaillant re- 

 specting the non-existence of naked seeds is correct when 

 anatomically considered, there can be no doubt ; but the 

 practical utility of deviating in this subject from the common 

 language of botanists may still be questioned : and accord- 

 ingly Gsertner, who was fully aware of the truth of their 

 position, has nevertheless continued to describe the seeds of 

 many plants as naked. I confess however I am inclined to 

 adopt the opposite decision of the French botanists, at the 

 head of whom is Richard, who has also proposed terms for 

 distinguishing the various species hitherto confounded 

 under the name of naked seeds. The fruit of the mono- 

 spermous genera of Proteacese might probably be with 



