220 Mr. J. Miers on the Affinities of the Icacinaceae. 



of the original carpellary leaves. We perceive indeed, among 

 the Cionospermce, a gradual deviation from this extreme, begin- 

 ning with slight parietal rudiments of sterile dissepiments, about 

 the base of the cell, and varying in degree, until we reach the 

 oppositely extreme cases of the Styracea and Humiriacece, where 

 the ovarium is many-celled, even to the apex ; but even here, in 

 spite of the converging and always thickened incomplete dissepi- 

 ments, extending so far, as even almost to touch the central ex- 

 pansions, we find the ovuligerous placenta? in the axis, always 

 quite free from them, and from the style. If no original differ- 

 ence is to be found in the nature of the development, between 

 the plurilocular germen, and the one-celled ovarium with free 

 central placentae, or if the existence of the latter were due to 

 the breaking away from the placentas of the inflected portions of 

 the dissepiment so formed, we should sometimes perceive in the 

 same order, the same genus, or even in the same individual, some 

 instance where this had happened in a greater or less degree, and 

 we should often meet with the two structures confounded ; but 

 we find invariably an equally uniform amount of development, 

 proving that in their normal origin they are distinct. 



It was upon these views I drew the conclusion and offered 

 the suggestion (huj. op. vol. viii. p. 1G7) that the nearest 

 affinity of the Icacinacece is with the Celastracece, or the Aqui- 

 foliacea, but that they differ from these in many essential re- 

 spects, and cannot be held to be subordinate to either of 

 them. With those who think it tends to the simplicity of 

 the science, to diminish to the utmost possible extent the pre- 

 sent number of natural orders, the Celastracea, Aquifoliacece, 

 Icacinacece, Hippocratacece and some others might be considered 

 as suborders of one large family; but I do not perceive any 

 advantage in this method ; for it matters little whether such 

 divisions be called classes and orders, or orders and suborders ; 

 for were such an order established (under the name, for 

 instance, of the Dryacece), it is clear that, in practice, any 

 plant traceable to such alliance would always be referred to its 

 own peculiar suborder and never to such family. I therefore 

 incline to the greater convenience of retaining each group as 

 hitherto established, as a distinct order, and combining the whole 

 in a class that may be called the Dry ales*, because they mostly 

 consist of trees with evergreen leaves. They cannot consistently 

 be retained in the class of the Frangulacece of Endlicher, which 

 are marked by other very different characters. 



The group of the Dry ales will hence consist mostly of ever- 

 green trees with alternate, rarely opposite, exstipulate leaves 



"* From Bpvs, arbor sempervirens . 



