108 Mr. J. Miers on Villaresia. 
they number from twelve to sixteen; in Villaresia it is almost 
universally 1-celled, as also is the case in Azxtoxicum, which 
appears to belong to the same family. Although, as I have 
mentioned, the ovary in the Icacinacee is generally unilocular, 
it is constantly 3- or 5-celled in Emmotum. 
Throughout both families there is a general tendency towards 
the suppression of one of the sexes, so that the flowers are always 
more or less polygamous ; and this is carried to such an extreme 
in 4fxtoxicum, that they are constantly dicecious, when in all 
other respects the structure corresponds with the Aqutfoliacee. 
On the other hand, perhaps no genus in the family approaches 
nearer to regular hermaphroditism than Villaresia. 
One great peculiarity attends the development of the ovary in 
this genus: the suppressed cells united in the normal axis form 
a prominent longitudinal parietal expansion, which extends far 
towards the centre of the single fertile cell; and from near the 
summit of this expansion the two collateral ovules are suspended. 
In the fruit, only one of these ovules arrives at maturity, and 
that soon fills the entire cavity ; the seed therefore moulds itself 
about the placental expansion, becoming thus bent round it, so 
that its transverse section is hippocrepiform. A similar struc- 
ture occurs in Bursinopetalum, as is well shown by Dr. Wight, 
in his ‘ Icones’ (tab. 956). This latter genus is referred by Dr. 
Wight to Olacacee, but it cannot belong to that family, on ac- 
count of the structure of its ovary and the mode of suspension 
of its ovules, in which respects there is a perfect analogy to the 
structure of Villaresia. 
I will shortly detail the observations I have recently made on 
the peculiar structure of Bursinopetalum, and will endeavour to 
indicate its real affinity. 
Although, as before stated, the estivation of the petals in 
Villaresia is broadly imbricative, their summits are always in- 
flected and folded into each other, so that it is sometimes diffi- 
cult to unravel a bud. This occurs also in Bursinopetalum and 
in other genera of the family, as in the male flowers of 4ztoai- 
cum, for example. The greater or less degree of inflection of 
the summits of the petals is nearly universal in the [cacinacea, 
and this occurs sometimes to a great extent; but as the estiva- 
tion there is completely valvate, the separation of the parts in 
the bud is quite easy. 
Another peculiarity exists in Villaresia—the presence of hol- 
low glands imbedded in the parenchyma of its leaves, each with 
a pervious opening on the lower face, always situated within the 
axils of the primary nerves or in the sinus of their first bifurca- 
tions: this peculiarity is not confined to the typical species in 
which I first observed it. Ruiz and Pavon notice the occurrence, 
