320 Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacese. 



really belonged to the family. Gaertner, however, in 1791, 

 figured a seed, called by him Koon Zeylanicus, which no one 

 had recognized, though Schreber had erroneously referred it to 

 Ochna. At the time above mentioned I defined several genera 

 whose seeds were destitute of albumen, which I classed with 

 this genus in a distinct tribe : in this list some errors existed, 

 owing to the want of sufficient materials ; but among the many 

 that are still valid is Fachygone, the type of which is the Cocculus 

 Flukenettiij DC. The authors of the ' Flora Indica' and of the 

 ' Genera Plantarum ^ fully acknowledged this genus, confined, as 

 I had proposed it, to plants of Asiatic origin ; but Dr. Eichler, 

 in his monograph of the Brazilian Menispermacece, has quite 

 misunderstood the structure of Pachygone in amalgamating with 

 it the South- American genus Hyperbcena. He has suppressed 

 the many species I have particularized of the latter genus, 

 making of them two species of Pachygone, establishing as a third 

 species a Columbian plant which also belongs to Hyperbcena. 

 Misapprehensions of this nature are to be regretted, because 

 they make confusion and create many useless synonyms. The 

 genus may easily be distinguished from Hyperbcena by the shape 

 of its petals and of its stamens, by its more osseous putamen 

 having a cochleiform condyle with external apertures, by the 

 shape of its seed, by the general habit of the plants, and more 

 especially by the venation of its leaves, which is always a cha- 

 racter of primary importance. In its floral structure, both $ 

 and % , there is scarcely any difference between it and Cocculus ; 

 and in the shape of its osseous putamen, as well as in its con- 

 dyle, there is also a great resemblance. 



Pachygone, nob. — Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala 6, alternatim 

 disposita, interiora majora, obovata, submembranacea, con- 

 cava, apice eroso-denticulata, sestivatione imbricata. Pe- 

 tala 6, sepalis interioribus minora, oblonga, concava, apice 

 incurva, rotundata et denticulata, imo 2-auriculata, lobis 

 crassis, filamentum amplectentibus. Stamina 6, petalis op- 

 posita, et ad unguem iis affixa ; filamenta 6, libera, iequalia, 

 tenuia, apice vix crassiora, petalis subbreviora; anthera glo- 

 boso-4-lob8e, subpeltatim affixse, 2-loculares, utrinque rima 

 transversali 2-valvatim dehiscentes. Ovaria rudimentaria 3, 

 punctiformia. — Foem. Sepala et petala ut in masc. Sta- 

 mina sterilia 6, petalorum dimidia longitudine, iis opposita. 

 Ovaria 3, gibboso-ovata, glabra, gynsecio centrali insita, 1- 

 locularia, ovulo unico faciei internse appenso. Stylus brevissi- 

 mus, excentricus, subito incurvus. Stigma teres, breve, hori- 

 zontale, superne subsulcatum. Drupa 3, ovatse, carnosse, 

 stigmate persistente basin versus signatse ; putamen osseum. 



