So atl i Eh 
Leet Me ma Niles ey yh gk mT Nia al aE Rae Shera 
Mr. J. Miers on the Calyceracez. 177 
seated upon the free portion of the filamentous ring, above the 
point of its insertion upon the corolla. 
In regard to the prominent tubercle which crowns the ovary 
in all the Calyceracee, which Richard held to be a disk, all that 
I have seen tends to a conclusion at variance with the precept of 
Mr. Brown, which attributes to the flower in this family, as its 
essential character, “the absence of an epigynous disk,” and, as 
“a necessary consequence” of this character, “ the accretion of 
the base of the style to the base of the corolla.” We have strong 
presumptive evidence of the actual presence of an epigynous 
disk, analogous to that in Composite; and it may be inferred 
that the “ accretion” above mentioned arises from its intervention 
and confluence, both with the base of the style which it sur- 
rounds, and with the tube of the corolla, over the imner surface 
of which it is spread to a considerable extent, so that when the 
corolla falls off we always find the bottom of the tube closed, as 
if by a plug, owing to its presence. The nature of the five 
areolar glands is somewhat connected with this consideration : 
they are always alternate with the stamens ; and their origin may 
be attributed to two sources: either they may be viewed, as 
Mr. Brown regarded them, as a row of additional abortive sta- 
mens; or they may be considered as glandular protuberances 
appertaining to a disk extended, in the manner above mentioned, 
over the inner surface of the tube of the corolla. The former 
view will not stand the test of analogy, when compared with the 
numerous and varied developments seen in the neighbouring 
order Composite ; and the latter suggestion may be adopted 
without having recourse to the idea that the glands are “a series 
of modified stamens.” In regard to the existence of such a disk 
as I have suggested, we have some evidence in Nastanthus, where 
we find the usual confluence of the lower half of the staminal 
filaments into a monadelphous tube (¢ubillus of Richard), which 
soon becomes adnate to the tube of the corolla: we find in the 
mouth of this “ tubillus” an internal row of minute, free, linear 
hyaline teeth, alternating with the upper or free portions of the 
filaments, rounded at their apex, and connected together by an 
acute sinus; they evidently form an inner whorl with the fila- 
ments, and do not intervene between them. These teeth bear 
more the semblance of abortive stamens than the areolar glands; 
but the same reasoning which leads to the rejection of such a 
nature for the one will deny it to the other. We may with 
greater probability consider these teeth as constituting the 
margin of such an adnate disk as I have suggested, the presence 
of which is supported by much collateral evidence ; and we may 
moreover, with great reason, attribute to the existence of this 
disk the cause of the confluence of a portion of the filaments 
