186 Mr. J. Miers on a new species of Lardizabala, 



growth posterior to the curvature of the ovule. 4. Because the 

 integument resulting from the growth of the primine is indicated 

 beyond all doubt by the presence of the cord of the raphe within 

 its substance : it is the more fleshy and exterior of the two 

 integuments which immediately invest the albumen, follow- 

 ing it in its excentric curvature, and adhering along the 

 line of the raphe to the peripherical margin of the funicular 

 plate. It would certainly be very incorrect to call this fleshy 

 coating a testa : indeed it was for a similar reason that I pro- 

 posed for the analogous coating in Clusia and Magnolia the 

 terra "arilline," in order to distinguish it from another more 

 internal testaceous tunic, which is destitute of vessels of any kind. 

 In fine, any one who will take the trouble to reflect on the con- 

 secutive changes that must take place in the development of the 

 seed, and will keep his attention fixed upon the continuity and 

 movement of the coats of the ovule during their excentric deve- 

 lopment and subsequent growth, must perceive how absolutely 

 impossible it is that the external shell, circumstanced as we find 

 it in this instance, can have derived its origin from the mere 

 increment of the primine. 



If we examine this external shell, we find it to be a thin, 

 black, chartaceous or coriaceous entire crust, easily separable 

 from the rest of the seed, owing to the deposition between it 

 and the proper seminal integuments of a quantity of loose cel- 

 lular tissue, mixed with coloured glands, which adhere to one 

 as well as the other, and give to both a furfuraceous appearance. 

 The coating which immediately invests the entire surface of the 

 albumen in all its curvatures is composed of two distmct tunics, 

 which, though adhering together, are separable. The outer one 

 is soft, opake, and somewhat fleshy, containing numerous di- 

 stinct cells, apparently filled with oily matter ; it is much thicker 

 around the region of the large hollow raphe : the inner integu- 

 ment is thin and membranaceous, and closely invests the albu- 

 men : both are also thickened around the chalazal point, which 

 is situated in the lower part of the cavity near the site of the 

 embryo. 



It is said that in some of the Lardizabalacece {Akebia and 

 HollboL'Uia) the ovules and seeds are partly imbedded in the fleshy 

 walls of the pericarp ; but in Lardizabala the reverse of this takes 

 place; for here there is a protrusion of a part of the placenta, form- 

 ing an expanded funicular support, about which the ovule bends 

 itself, and becomes pcltately convex around it, — the whole, as I 

 have above shown, becoming subsequently enveloped by a com- 

 plete arillus emanating probably from a growth of the placenta, 

 or of its funicular extension. A metamorphosis of an analogous 

 kind, that is to say, an excentric replicature of the ovule round 



