MR. JOHN MIERS ON A NEW GENUS OF THE BURMANNIACE X. 465 
presented by the seeds to be uniform; and the only cases that support ** the hypothesis 
of their being composed of a sporuliferous mass are Mystropetalum and Sarcophyte ” 
(p.307). This opinion, as we shall presently see, is opposed to the views of Dr. Hooker, 
who considers that among the Balanophoreæ “ the only known embryonate and albumi- 
nous genera are Cynomorium, Sarcophyte, and Mystropetalum” (Linn. Trans. xxii. 18). 
Mr. Griffiths regarded all the other genera of that family, including Thismia, as having 
seeds enclosing **a densely cellular homogeneous body, each cell containing granules and 
globules of an apparently oleaginous fluid, the appearance being that of some forms 
of albumen" (7. c. p. 307). He was convinced that these bodies were the embryos de- 
scribed by Mr. Brown as being homogeneous and acotyledonous, and which exist in a 
marked degree in Thismia, also in Orchidaceæ and many plants parasitic on roots. 
Dr. Hooker, in his excellent memoir on Balanophoreæ (Linn. Trans. xxii. 17), attri- 
buted to the seeds of many genera of that family a similar structure, and his obser- 
vations serve to throw much additional light upon this interesting inquiry. The ovule 
of Balanophora involucrata, as shown in Pl. V. figs. 11 and 12, at an early stage of its 
growth “consists of a delicate hyaline sac, suspended almost immediately below the 
insertion of the style, and containing two free spherical cells, each full of fluid and 
covered with opake spots, which are probably cytoblasts. The formation of cells pro- 
ceeds with great rapidity within the sac;" but he was unable to trace their further 
evolution. If it could be proved, as Dr. Hooker was inclined to believe, that these cells 
are analogous to the ordinary embryo-sac of phanerogamous plants, it would be a very 
important fact ; but we must yet regard this as a mere supposition ; for although he per- 
ceived within the style a filament, like a pollen-tube (as shown in figs. 16 and 17), he 
could not trace it into the cavity of the ovary, there was no indication of its having been 
fertilized, nor was he able to observe any vestige of chalaza, raphe, or foramen by which 
impregnation could be effected: the ovule gradually swells till it is matured, and then 
consists of a dense opake mass of cohering hexagonal cells. : 
In regard to the nature of the seed in Balanophoree, Dr. Hooker infers (7. c. p. 18), 
as Griffiths in a somewhat different manner had conjectured before him, that there are 
two types of seminal structure in that family :—Ist. The embryonate, found only 3 
nomorium, Sarcophyte, and Mystropetalum; 2nd, the exembryonate, which = 
all the other genera, whose seeds consist of a homogeneous or sporuliferous punt 
above described. But if we regard the facts established by these botanists, the p ge 
sion seems irresistible that the three genera whose seeds have a distinct mee" x: cot 
tuiscalled an embryo), imbedded in a fleshy, more or less solid, albumen, shou : we 
sidered ordinarily distinct from all the others, which have no albumen and no em T ; = 
under such contrary conditions, if we regard consistency, they ought not to 5 e en » 
M the same natural family. By the separation of the former as the — a. 
“nsisting of the three tribes already established, the Cynomorieæ, My sint iis rmly 
hyteæ, we have the Balanophoracee remaining, whose gener "i sülfferenide 
“atked by similar essential characters. Holding in view therefore the extrem en 
the organization of its seeds, the Cynomoriaceæ would stand further separa 
: j . The chief reasons which 
“anophoracee than Triuridacee or even Burmanmace@ { 
