DR. M. T. MASTERS ON THE PASSIFLORACEA. 623 
enumerated. The * indicates congenital or primordial characters; the x those that are 
acquired or secondary. Of these twenty-three selected points of comparison Passion- 
flowers possess 16, 10 congenital, 6 acquired; Turnerads have 12 points of agreement 
with Passion-flowers, 8 congenital, 4 aequired, while they differ in 6, viz. in 2 congenital 
and 4 secondary characters. Samyds have 11 points (of the 23) in common with Passion- 
flowers, 7 primordial, 4 secondary; and 8 points of divergence, viz. 4 congenital and 4 
acquired. This is more easily seen in the following Table 4+ :— 
TABLE 4. 
Points of Agreement. | Points of Disagreement, 
Congenital. | Acquired. E Congenital | Acquired. plat 
Passifloraceæ .......... 10 6 16 . . . 
Turherácete- o.an. 8 4 12 2 4 6 
Malesherbiacex........ 8 4 12 2 2 4 
Sauvagesiaceæ ........ 11 d 11 3 6 9 
Samydaceæ  .,...;::.., 7 4 il 1 4 8 
REO pau uu e ES 11 . 11 3 6 9 
Droserüom -rcir 9 . 9 5 6 11 
Homaliaceæ .......... ei 4 11 3 6 9 
JUNE en x 7 4 11 5 6 11 
Bub... ib ii 10 . 10 4 6 10 
PER a a 10 . 10 6 6 12 
Papayaceæ .......... 10 1 11 8 7 15 
Frankeniaceæ ........ 10 . 10 6 6 12 
Capparidaceæ. . ...... 8 1 9 6 5 11 
Cucurbitace®.......:.. 6 5 11 9 5 14 
Bignoniaceæ .......... 8 2 10 9 6 15 
ES 
* Congenital characters, then, are of cardinal importance in estimating affinity, from 
ES deir frequency of occurrence, and from their relative invariability. The physiological 
ber of the organs furnishing congenital characters is also necessarily great, as 
son the due fulfilment of their functions depend the life and reproduction of the plant. 
4 manner in which those functions are fulfilled depends, as will be shown in the next 
po agräph, upon those organs which furnish special physiological characters. 
į In a case of doubt we should do well to lay greater stress (for purposes of synthesis) 
n the possession of these fundamental characters than on the cumulative force of number 
without reference to value, or on quality rather than on quantity. At the same time, as has 
‘been already stated, congenital characters occasionally furnish good means of discrimina- 
| tion between small groups, though their value in this respect is to some extent dimi- 
nished by the greater tendency which, under such circumstances, the characters in ques- 
tion have to vary. 
4. Special physiological characters.—These are attributes usually “acquired,” and not 
common to all plants, but only to certain genera and species. They are, of course, 
| t These Tables, like the preceding ones, must be taken as only approximately correct ; for it is not certain in 
all cases what is à congenital, what an acquired character. Moreover the characters assigned to any particular 
order are by no means absolute: for instance, some Passion-flowers are unisexual, though not entered as such in 
the Table. Exceptions, indeed, are here disregarded. 
