Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermaceae. 371 



donibus semiteretibus, incumbentibus, radicula supera ad sty- 

 lum spectante paulo brevioribus. 

 Frutices scandentes Asia intertropicce ; ramuli teretes, retrormm 

 tomentosi ; folia subrotunda, subcordata, pubescentia, 5-7-nervia, 

 longiuscule petiulata, petiolo paulo intra marginem affixo ; in- 

 florescentia supra-axillaris, pubescens, paniculata, trichotome 

 divisa, ramis divaricatis iterumque compositis ; florea breviter 

 pedicellati, minimi, villosi. 



The following species are described in the third volume of the 

 * Contributions to Botany :* — 



1. Pericampylus incanus, nob. ; Cocculus incanus, Caleb. — Asia 



intertropica. 



2. Assamicus, nob. — Assam (Jenkins). 



3. aduncus, nob. — Bootan (Griffiths). 



4. membranaceus, nob. ; Cocculus membranaceus, IVall. — 



Ind. orient. 



22. PSELIUM. 



In 1851 I formed the character of this genus from the ex- 

 amination of Loureiro's typical specimen in the British Museum, 

 which has only male flowers. That botanist, however, was wrong 

 in his generic details, as it is evident that the plant from which 

 he derived the character of the female flower and seed must have 

 been a Stephania : in his description of the male flower, he is 

 incorrect in stating that its six petals are twice the length of 

 the six sepals. The authors of the * Flora Indica' declare that 

 Loureiro's specimen above mentioned is clearly identical with 

 Pericampylus incanus : I admit that, as far as regards the leaves, 

 there is much resemblance, but not so in the character of the 

 inflorescence, its very short panicle being very diffierent from the 

 widely spread umbellate inflorescence of Pericampylus incanus ; 

 its sepals arc pilose on both sides, its petals being only one-fifth 

 of their length ; the stamens are confluent for more than half 

 their length in a monadelphous column, the union of the three 

 more central being continued to nearly their summit ; the fila- 

 ments are not clavate at the apex, and the anthers are differently 

 constructed. If the union of the stamens had been continued 

 up to the anthers, Loureiro's specimen would not have differed 

 from a Stej)hania ; and had they been disunited to the base, 

 it would have been a Pericampylus. Under these circumstances, 

 although I confess the difference is small, I should not be justi- 

 fied in abolishing Loureiro's genus. In many other genera of 

 the family a similar feature gives one of their chief distinctive 

 characters ; in the union of three of its six filaments into a cen- 

 tral column we have a parallel in Cuscinium ; in Triclisia, its six 

 stamens are combined together for half or a third of their length ; 



24* 



