448 Linneean Society. 



which albumen is subsequently deposited, are derived from the boyau 

 or from the embryonary sac, Mr. Griffith states, that he has not 

 been able to determine ; but he imagines that they are derived from 

 the boyau. He adds, that if his views of the seed of Loranthiis being 

 derived from the boyau solely be correct, Osyris is intermediate be- 

 tween Loranthus and Santalum ; and intimates his intention of send- 

 ing, on his arrival at Calcutta, a Supplement to his paper on Loran- 

 thus, published in the Society's Transactions. 



Read also a paper " On a reformed character of the genus Cry- 

 ptolepis of Brown." By H. Falconer, M.D., Superintendent of the 

 Hon. East India Company's Botanic Garden at Saharunpore. 



Pr. Falconer's character is as follows : — 



Cryptolepis, R. Br. 



C«/ya,' 5-partitus. Corolla infundibuliformis, 5-fida ; tubo intiis proces- 

 subus 5 cariiosis, obtusis, inchisis, cum limbi laciniis alternantibus, in- 

 structo ; fauce nuda. Stamina inio corollcB tubo inserta, inclusa \ fila- 

 menta brevissima, distincta; antherce sagittatpe, dorso penicillato-bar- 

 batfe, basi stigmatis mavgini adhrerentes. Masste polliuis solitarite, 

 granulosa, corpusciili glaiidulreformis appendiculas lineavi tenuissimae 

 applicitje. Ovaria 2. Stylus brevissimus. Stigma dilatatum, margine 

 attenuatum, apiculo conico. Squamulce hypogynce nulla?. FoUiculi di- 

 varicatissimi, ventricosi, apice acuto recto. Semina ad umbilicum co- 

 niosa. 



Fi'utex volubUis, glaberrimus, sncco lacteo scafens ; foliis oppositis, hreve- 

 petiolatis, lato-ellipiicis cum acuinine subulato brevi, supra Icete-viren- 

 tibus, subtiis albido-glnucis, transverse venosis ; petioHs supra basin ar- 

 iiculatis ; corymbis axillaribus, breve-pedunculatis, curtatis ; floribus 

 suhsessilibus, majusculis, citrinis; corollae limbo patulo, segmentis ligu- 

 latis. 



C, Btichanani, Roem. et Sch., iv. p. 409. 



C. reticulata, Royle, Illustr., p. 270. 



Nerium reticulatuin, Roxb. Flor. Ind. Orient., ii. p. 9. 



Hab. passim in India Orientali. 



In his Monograph in the Wernerian Transactions, Mr. Brown re- 

 ferred the genus Cryptolepis, which he there established, to ApocynecB, 

 placing it next to Apocymim, and in this he has been followed by all 

 subsequent writers ; but Dr. Falconer states that it has the whole 

 stigmatic apparatus of Asclepiadea, with granular pollen as ty})ically 

 developed as in Cryptostegia or any other of the Periplocece., although 

 in a less considerable degree of evolution. He regards it, however, 

 as constituting the closest known transition from that family to Apo- 

 cynea. He thinks the extreme minuteness of the appendicula? may 

 account for their having escaped Mr. Brown's observation in the dry 

 specimen ; but adds, that there are two other points of diiference, 

 which lead him to suspect his plant to be distinct from that described 

 by Mr. Bi'own. These are the want of hypogynous scales, of which 

 he finds no trace, and which he believes to be wanting in the series of 

 Periploceous genera allied to Cryptolepis ; and the axillary, and not 

 interpetiolar, inflorescence. He also gives a detailed description of 

 the sexual organs, and states that he has never been able to observe 

 the pollen tubes either naturally or artificially produced. 



