474 MR. JOHN MIERS ON A NEW GENUS OF THE BURMANNIACER. 
and others. It needs no argument to prove the utter incompatibility of alliances of such 
loose and heterogeneous affinities. 
MYOSTOMA, gen. nov. 
Flores hermaphroditi. Perianthium gamophyllum, tubulosum, imo ovario adnatum, tubo regulari, sub- 
cylindraceo, sulcato, supra medium ampliore, ad faucem breviter constricto, limbo 6-partito, segmentis 
3 angustissime linearibus, marginibus valde revolutis et hinc subulatis, carnosis, infra faucem enatis, 
omnino exterioribus, tubo paulo brevioribus, patentim radiatis et subreflexis, 3 alteris alternis, orbi- 
culatis, convexis, imo auriculato-cordatis, et late breviter unguiculatis ; marginibus valde imbricatis, 
apice fornicatis, et faucem semper claudentibus. Stamina 6, æqualia, remote discreta, segmentis 
opposita; filamenta brevia, subfiliformia, fauci affixa, pendentia vel axin versus conniventia; con- 
nectivum longiter triangulare, extremitate angustatum et obtusam, ex adverso truncatum, ad angulos 
in cornua 2 erecta expansum, et inter cornua ex apice filamenti suspensum; anthera biloba, lobis 
lineari-oblongis, discretis, parallelis vel paulo divergentibus, dorso omnino adnatis, extrorsum spec- 
tantibus, suleatis, et medio septulo longitudinali bilocellatis, hine bivalvatim dehiscentibus. Pollen 
simplex, globosum, pallide stramineum, membrana tenuissima minute reticulata pustulis 3 hyalinis 
pertusa. Stylus brevis, teres, e disco erectus. Stigma stylo æquilongum, subito incrassatum, pro- 
funde 3-fissum, lobis curvatim erectis, subacutis, subtriquetris, intus planis, extus angulosis, undique 
papillosis. Ovarium inferum, turbinatum, 6-sulcatum, disco epigyno coronatum, 1-loculare, plurio- 
vulatum ; ovula numerosissima, ad placentas 3 parietales paulo supra basin breves crebre aggregata. 
Capsula. turbinato-campanulata, hyalina, carnosa, post circumscissionem et lapsum perianthii ore 
omnino aperto. Semina numerosissima, minima, funiculis longiusculis e placentis suspensa, crebre 
intertexta, et fundum loculi implentia ; integumentum externum oblongum, tenuissime membranaceum, 
laxum, longitudinaliter carinato-nervosum, nervis parallelis circa 12 e summo ad basin fissilibus, hinc 
valvatim solubile, interstitiis hyalinis, lineis obliquis crebre striatis, ad imum pulvino parvo reticulato 
notatum, ore late apertum; infegumentum internum brevius, ovatum, integrum, membranaceum, 
reticulatum, nucleum arcte tegens; blastidium (nucleus) torulosum, in corpuscula plurima 11? 
qualia solubile, corpusculis sine perithecio proprio e cellulis aggregatis oleaginis fusco-brunneis ee) 
misque nigris sporuloideis compositis, embryone visibili nullo.—Plantula Brasiliensis, humilis, hyalina 
rhizoma tuberosum, fibrillosum ; caulis simplex, sulcatus, erectus ; foliola pauca, minima, br acteiformit, 
acuta, terminalia, sessilia, imbricatim decussata ; pedunculus solitarius, terminalis, cauli similis, inira 
foliola enatus, primum brevis, demum elongatus, ebracteatus, 1-florus ; flos hyalino-albidus, erectus. 
MyostoMA HYALINUM, nob.: tubere parvo, noduloso, fibrillifero; caule nudo, sulcato, 
hyalino; foliolis 4, bracteiformibus, albidis, sessilibus, acutis, erectis, per paria OF 
positis, imbricatim decussatis, imo fere vaginatim nexis, persistentibus ; pedunculo 
intra foliola enato, brevi, caulis diametro et demum tertia parte ejus longitudinis; 
flore solitario, terminali, carnosulo, tubo hyalino, ore pallide aurantiaco; capsula 
hyalina, demum cupulari. In Brasiliæ montibus Organensibus, circa Petropolin- 
This plant was found by my son, in March 1862, in the virgin forests near Petropolis 
at an altitude of about 3000 feet above the level of the sea. He found only à singl? 
cluster of these plants, growing in a damp mass of dead leaves, which carpeted the MI. 
ea small open space about 12 feet wide, overshadowed by lofty trees. The tubers, à 
their fibres, did not appear attached to the roots of the surrounding trees, but sap! 
uapeaded in the decaying leaves. It was under precisely similar circumstance? r 
found the plants of Triuris in the year 1837. The stem is from 2 to 34 inches lone 
