Linnaan Society. 191 



remarkable divcr.«itj' of characters has been sacrificed to an appear- 

 ance resulting from parasitism on roots, and to an assumed absence 

 of any ordinary form of vegetable embryo." 



In arriving at this conclusion, his line of argument is summed up 

 as having especial reference to the three following points : "In the 

 first place," he says, " I have endeavoured to extend the objections 

 urged by Mr. Robert Brown, founded on the presence of a vascular 

 system, and the absence of any abstract peculiarity in the embryos 

 of these plants. I have also attempted to show that these plants are 

 not similar in their jjarasitism, and that even in those which I have 

 examined, there would appear to be two remarkably different types 

 of develoj)ment of the embryo. Secondly, I have alluded to the op- 

 jjosition presented, as it seems to me, hy Rhizanthea to the system of 

 Nature, a chief point of the plan of which seems to me to consist in 

 an extensive interchange of characters, either positively by structure 

 or negatively by imitation of structure. Thirdly, I have adverted to 

 a want of uniformity in opinion of the founders regarding its rank 

 or value, incompatible, as it appears to me, with any group of the 

 system of Nature. And in conclusion, I beg to add that my impres- 

 sion is that Rhizanthea are an entirely artificial group, not even 

 sanctioned by practical facility, which is the only merit of an arti- 

 ficial association, and that its adoi^tion is a retrograde step in the 

 course of jihilosophical botany." 



To the family of Rafflesiacecc, Mr. Griffith adds a new genus ■with 

 the following characters : — 



Sapria. 



Char. Glx. — Florcs dioici. Periuiithhim duplici scrie .J-partifum, resti- 

 vatione imbricativum; faux corona forata clausa ; tubus intiis 20-cari- 

 natus. Mm : Jn/hcrce'JO, iiniseriatiai infra caput columiue fungiforme 

 verticillatac, discrete, 2 — 3-loculare.s, apice poroste. Ovarii cavitas 

 nulla. Faeni : Antlierw castratse. Ovarium 1-locularc; placiiitie inde- 

 finitae, parietales; ovula indefiuita. Coliimiice apex funfroideo-diiatatus 

 (o medio conum venucosuin exserens, disco piloso). Fructus . 



Planta parasitica, habitu Rafilesiae. Flos magnus, carnis colore, odore 

 jiutrido. 



Sapufa Himalayana. 



Hah. in Jugi Ilimalavani Montibus Mishmce Assamise Superioris ad lat. 

 Bor. 27° 50', long. Orient. 9(i° 27', altit. pedes 3000—5000. 



The description of this plant is accompanied by observations on 

 its mode of parasitism, on its vascular structure, on the plicic of the 

 inside of the tube of the perianthium (which the author suggests may 

 perhaps be considered to represent a second series of stamina), on 

 the inner membrane of the cells of the anthers, on the obstacles to 

 independent impregnation, and on the natural relations of the ge- 

 nus, and the characters by which it differs from Rdfflesia and Brug- 

 mansia, between which Mr. Griffith places it. 



Mr. Griffith next proceeds to oflfer some observations on Cyt'inea:, 

 and on the genera Hydiwra and Ct/tinus. He believes that the dif- 

 ference in the direction of the nuclei of the ovula in Ct/dnea and 



