as distinguished from the Symplocacese. 131 



longitudinal sutures alternating with the grooves. "The seed 

 contained within this putamcn is erect ; the external tunic is 

 hard, and marked by three longitudinal grooves caused by the 

 pressure of the three parietal nervures of the endocarp : it is sup- 

 ported upon a short irregularly triangular base (the remains of 

 the central placenta), around which may be seen twenty or thirty 

 abortive ovules, proving, whatever be its nature or origin, that it 

 is the external coating of the seed. This seminal tunic or shell 

 is very osseous in texture; in Strigilia it is thinner and some- 

 what brittle, but in Styrax and Cyrta it is very thick and hard, 

 and is everywhere polished except over its large basal hilum ; 

 upon this hilum, inclined towards one side, is seen an aperture 

 leading to an internal channel, and in the direction of this chan- 

 nel the exterior face has a short, broad, prominent ridge : this 

 channel, passing obliquely through the substance of the shell, 

 soon reappears on the inner face in the form of a flattened bony 

 tube, from the orifice of which a distinct cord issues, which 

 thence extends upwards, soon divides into three branches, and 

 then into numerous ramifications, which, crossing each other 

 over the summit in broad bands, thus become distributed into a 

 reticulated network that extends over the whole surface : this 

 network, which consists of an infinity of very loose fine spiral 

 threads, is placed between the external shell and a distinct dark- 

 coloured membrane adhering equally to the nucleus, which thus 

 becomes easily separated by means of its intervention ; each 

 spiral thread is, however, quite free, and is easily drawn away. 

 Within this last-mentioned membrane is another intermediate 

 tunic, which is very thin, colourless and transparent, and is 

 intimately agglutinated to it. Within this, again, is found an- 

 other thin, hyaline, reticulated integument, which is quite free 

 from the former, but adherent to the albumen. The albumen 

 is fleshy, of an oblong form in Strigilia, with a small nipple- 

 shaped protuberance at its base, somewhat excentrically placed, 

 in which is imbedded the extremity of the slender, terete, infe- 

 rior radicle, while the oval, compressed, foliaceous cotyledons 

 are situated in the middle of the albuminous mass, and are about 

 fths of its length, and somewhat narrower. This structure, 

 with very little variation, I have found constant in Strigilia, 

 Styrax, and Cyrta. The pericarp in Styrax and Cyrta is very 

 analogous to that above described in Strigilia ; in the two former 

 the endocarp is more intimately combined with the mesocarp, so 

 that in Cyrta the entire pericarp opens by three equal valves, 

 although only unilocular and monospermous ; in Styrax, these 

 valves open only at the apex, the pericarp thus becoming cupu- 

 liform in shape, and closely investing the seed. On the side 

 opposite to that of the origin of the raphe^ a little beyond the 



9* 



