622 DR. M. T. MASTERS ON THE PASSIFLORACE A. 
The petiolar glands offer another instance of a congenital character serving for pur- 
poses of analysis—for distinguishing between small, as well as between large ageregates. 
These glands, too, seem to be more important in the young than in the adúlt condition 
of the leaf. 
A similar remark may be made concerning the albumen—a congenital character 
usually common to all the members of large groups, and serving to bind their members 
together, and to discriminate them from others. This, too, is a character of high physi- 
ological importance; and yet it is one which sometimes serves to separate closely allied 
forms from each other. Thus in the genus Sterculia, in Cassia, &c. there are some 
species with, and others without albumen. 
Congenital characters not only give us direct indications of existing affinities, but 
they are suggestive of the manner in which that affinity may have been brought about; 
in other words, they give a clue to the ancestry and parentage of existing forms. For 
instance, at a certain stage of development the flowers of a Passion-flower are almost 
precisely identical in the arrangement of their several parts with those of Turnera; so 
that we might either look upon Turnera as a Passion-flower arrested in its development, 
or upon a Passiflora as a Turnera of an exalted and more complicated type of organiza- 
tion. In so saying, I do not mean to assert dogmatically that existing Passifloras were 
evolved out of Turneras, or that Turneras are really degenerate Passifloras, I would 
merely infer that as both, at a certain stage of their existence, have the same arrange- 
ment of their floral organs, so they may have sprung, and probably did spring, from a 
common ancestor having a similar arrangement of parts. | 
The relative importance of congenital and of acquired characters in the sixteen orders 
previously mentioned is in a measure shown in the accompanying Table 3, in which 
TABLE 3. 
j 
a AE 3 n s 
e ls. s [25 |3. 2583 18 ls le | | g |, elsa Ir 
taxis i a © o Joa a SE D . g am | GS 
HEHIBIEBERIEREHEEEEEELEEEHEEEE BERE BEER EE) 
mA rs 019 glos 2. A 12 o 20 Az o |A Sle 5/8 oI 3 E ` 
ata Er E r EEE 
E OE Be se m e o os 
‚Passifloracex esl Ee Ts oS a be STETS I N I KT SR O a D xik 
Turneraceæ AE A . . . . . x x . * . x e| o * . * * * x * . * 
Malesherbiaceze Mie fete te hai el Mie isle “Mi Mia tora tals Fete. Ta 
E C . * . * + . . . + * . . . * . * * * . * . + 
amydaceæ BER x . ES . a . X x . . . N . . E: LI x * x x * . . 
Violaces ......... * . * . * * . A . * * . . . * P * x * . 3t . . 
Droseraceæ biais * . . * * * . . . * ok . . . . . 1% x . x . . 
Homaliaceæ oes * . * . . 0 x x . EI E X . . . ac x x E . * . . 
| Loasacece . AA a A A 
A ad * . SE . . . > d * * x . * . . 
Bixaceæ ad * . . E E * . . . * * . . . * . * + x . - . . 
Pangiaceæ VANS * . . * * * . . . x ? . ? . * . + * * + * LE . 
Docs ined * . «| x ix |] . lo a T ow e LE. de *| * PLI ee 
E niaceg.,. . * + . * * . . . * * . . . * . * * * . %* . . 
| Capparidacee... : . . . * * . . . * * . . x x . * x . . . . . | 
Cucurbitaceæ ... * . . = . . xX x * LI a xX . . * x wie . . * X i 
_ | Bignoniaceæ . * . . * * . . * . . x . . * B * * . . * x sá 
twenty-three characters, some of which are found in all the orders in question, are 
