Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacez. 13 
albumen. Their fourth tribe consists of my subdivision Cissam- 
pelide, which they separated from the rest of my Leptogonee. 
They abolished my tribe Tiliacoree, which offers such distinct 
characters, and united the only Indian genus belonging to it 
with the rest of the Leptogonee: these, together with my Platy- 
gonea, constituted their third tribe, Cocculee—a name especially 
objectionable on account of its old association with Anamirta 
Cocculus (the Cocculus of commerce), and thus likely to lead 
many persons into error: in this group different forms of em- 
bryo are mixed together, and the important distinctions between 
accumbent and incumbent cotyledons are totally disregarded. 
Their fifth tribe is adopted upon my Pachygonee, with little 
alteration. 
Messrs. Bentham and Hooker, in their ‘ Genera Plantarum,’ 
published a few months ago, have followed in the steps of the 
authors of the ‘ Flora Indica,’ but have avoided some of their 
errors, and properly discard the Cosciniee ; they have, however, 
followed the same principle of distribution. They adopt my 
Heterocliniee (under the name of Tinosporee) as their first tribe, 
and my Pachygonee as their fourth tribe; they also separate my 
subtribe Cissampelidee from the rest of the Leptogonee as their 
third tribe ; while for their second tribe, under the objectionable 
name of Cocculee, they confound together my Anomospermee, 
Tiliacoree, the remainder of the Leptogonee, and all the Platy- 
gonee, thus mixing up heterogeneously opposite conditions of 
albumen, and different forms of embryo, and totally disregarding 
the important distinction of accumbent and incumbent coty- 
ledons—characters fully appreciated by them in other families. 
This, no doubt, has been done with a view to concentration ; 
but it cannot be denied that it is effected at the sacrifice of con- 
sistency. It appears to me that, if we profess to adopt a principle 
as a basis of division, it should be carried out strictly. The 
feature of ruminated albumen is too peculiar to be so overlooked; 
and hence the Anomospermee and Tilacoree are deserving of 
special places, and should be held distinct, not only because of 
having quite a different direction of the condyle, but on account 
of one having accumbent, the other incumbent cotyledons. It 
is for this latter reason that I have ventured to add a new tribe, 
Hypserpee. The marked contrast between the slender thread- 
like embryo of the Leptogonee, as contradistinguished from 
those with foliaceous cotyledons, many times the breadth of the 
slender radicle, is too important to be passed over; and hence 
the necessity for maintaining the Platygonee as a distinct tribe. 
The differences in floral structure are of secondary importance ; 
and for this reason the Menispermee and Cissampelidee have been 
retamed by me as subtribes, and conjoined into a single tribe 
