Prof. G. Gulliver on Raphides. 41 



7. Fenella reticulata, A. Ad. 

 Bunkeria reticulata, A. Ad., Annals, 1860. 

 Ilab. Awa-Sima ; in shell-sand. 



8. Fenella craticulata, A. Ad. 

 Dunkeria craticulata, Annals, 1860. 



Hab. Gotto Islands; 48 fathoms : Mino-Siraa ; 63 fathoms. 



9. Fenella rufocincta, A. Ad. 

 Dunkeria rufocincta, A. Ad., Annals, 1860. 



Hab. Mososeki : Takano-Sima : Tanabe. 



V. — Observations on Raphides. By George Gulliver, F.R.S. 



[Continued from vol. xii. p. 447.1 



Raphis-bearing Orders. — Of British plants we have already- 

 shown that there are many orders, as Eubiacese, Balsaminacea?, 

 and Onagracese, which are truly raphis-bearing ; and an exami- 

 nation of a few exotic species has confirmed the propriety of 

 this character. We have also proved that, in typical plants of 

 this kind, the formation of raphides is a constant, fundamental, 

 essential, and intrinsic result of the vigorous plant-life; and 

 that they are, throughout its existence, so truly part and parcel 

 of its very nature, that we find them abundantly from the ovule 

 to the seed-leaves and thence through all the stages of the 

 plant-growth to the ripe fruit — in short, from the cradle to the 

 grave of the species. And hence, independently of the value of 

 the facts in other respects, raphides may in some instances 

 afford a more certain and useful diagnosis than any other single 

 one which has yet been employed in systematic botany. 



"While such raphidiferous orders may be closely surrounded, 

 in the natural arrangement, by other orders destitute of raphides, 

 there are, conversely, orders not affording raphides, and yet 

 standing between orders which are regular raphis-bearers. Thus, 

 Hydrocharidacese, an order not characterized by raphides, is im- 

 n)ediately preceded and succeeded, in Professor Babington's 

 * Manual of British Botany,' by Dioscoreacese and Orchidaceje — 

 two orders which abound in raphides. Again, Alisma and every 

 species which I have examined of Potamogeton are devoid of 

 raphides, while all the British orders placed between Alismacese 

 and Potamogetonacese are remarkably raphidiferous; and nu- 

 merous other instructive examples of the like kind might be 

 given. 



Surely all these facts amount to an accumulation of evidence, 



