Natural Order Cucurbitaceae. 265 



when I came to consider his sectional characters, and that the 

 form and position of the stamens and anthers and stigma and 

 fruit are really the only characters hitherto employed for ge- 

 nera by other botanists ; and that all Schrader has done, is to 

 keep only those species in their old genera that agree with the 

 character, and tiu'ning out and making new genera of those 

 that do not, then I felt inclined to go great lengths towards 

 adopting his views. I intend here to give you a Conspectus, 

 or abridged generic characters, which I have drawn up, not 

 only for the Indian, but also for the whole world, which I shall 

 not object to your publishing as ' abridged characters of the 

 genera of the tribe Cucurbitece of Schrader.' ' 



" At the conclusion of the Conspectus he continues, — 

 * These seem to be all the genera known that truly belong to 

 Cucurbitece ; they have all unisexual flowers. Gronovia lias 

 them bisexual, but is otherwise very closely allied. AUasia 

 cannot be of this order unless we suppose the description 

 quite erroneous ; and if so, Loureiro may have had before 

 him, in part at least, the Telfairia pedata ; Myrianthus cannot 

 belong to Cucurbitaceae. 



" ' Thladianthus Rimjje is imperfectly described as to the 

 stamens, but may perhaps form a seventh tribe. 



" ' I have laboured under great difficulty in making out 

 these characters, partly because the published descriptions 

 were very imperfect, partly because I had not several of the 

 genera, and partly from the extreme difficulty of examining 

 the anthers after being dried and pressed. I would therefore 

 suggest to you and other Indian botanists to re-examine all 

 the Indian ones on living plants, and have drawings made, 

 paying particular attention to the representation of the anthers. 



" ' At first you may, as I did, confuse section 7 with section 

 9 ; but if you will compare the flower of Citrullus, Momordica 

 or Layenaria with Cucurbit a or Coccinia, you will readily see 

 the difference. In section 7 the connectivum is lobed, and the 

 anther-cells are placed along the edge of the lobes ; in sections 

 8 and 9 the connectivum is not itself lobcd, but the anther- 

 cell is bent (it M'inds upwards and downwards along the back 

 of the connectivum).' 



" Warned by the concluding paragraph of the difficulty at- 

 tending the description of tResc plants from dried specimens, 

 I took occasion, as opportunity offered, to compare some of 

 the sectional characters with recent specimens, and feel dis- 

 posed to think the sections too numerous and not sufficiently 

 distinguished. I have not yet succeeded in compai'ing the 

 whole, but would suggest the following alterations, which I 

 think would improve the arrangement. 



