AFFINITIES OF CEPHALOTUS. 357 



(like Philydrum 1 and Brunonia 2 ), now that its structure is 

 completely known, to rank as a distinct family which may 

 be called Cephalote^e, and which may be placed between 

 Crassulaceae and Francoaceae ; differing from both in being 

 apetalous, in the valvate aestivation of the perianthium, 

 and in many characters of inferior importance : from Cras- 

 sulaceae also in its minute embryo and more copious 

 albumen : and from Francoaceae in the absence of barren 

 stamina and in the pistilla being monospermous and appa- 

 rently distinct. 



The most striking peculiarity of Cephalotus consists in 

 the conversion of a portion of its radical leaves into Ascidia 

 or pitchers. But as ascidia in all cases are manifestly formed 

 from or belong to leaves, and as the various parts of the 

 flower in Phaenogamous plants are now generally regarded 

 as modifications of the same organs, the question is naturally 

 suggested, how far the form and arrangement of the parts 

 of fructification agree in those plants whose leaves are capable 

 of producing ascidia or pitchers. The four principal, and 

 indeed the only genera in which pitchers occur, are Ne- 

 penthes, Cephalotus, Sarracenia, and Dischidia, and the few 

 other somewhat analogous cases, consisting of the conversion 

 of bracteae or floral leaves into open cuculli, are found in 

 Marcgravia and two other genera of the same natural 

 family. 



The only thing common to all these plants is, that they 

 are Dicotyledonous. 



It may also be remarked, that in those genera in which 

 the Ascidia have an operculum, namely Nepenthes, Cepha- 

 lotus, and Sarracenia, they exist in every known species of 

 each genus, and the structure of these genera is so peculiar 

 that they form three distinct natural families ; while in 

 Dischidia, whose pitchers are formed without opercula, these 

 organs are neither found in every species of the genus, nor 

 in any other genus of the extensive natural order to which 

 it belongs. 



The striking resemblance in most points of the Ascidia of 



1 Flinders's Voyage, vol. ii, p. 578 [vol. i, p. 53]. 



2 Transact. Linn. Soc. vol. xii, p. 132 [ante, p. 310]. 



