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PART II. DESCRIPTIVE 
The Cucurbitaceae constitute a family of plants whose sys- 
tematic position and relationship have been much disputed. 
Naudin’ and also Bentham and Hooker® have considered 
them more nearly allied to the Passifloraceae. Baillon* has 
regarded them as related to the Loasaceae and Begoniaceae. 
They are usually regarded, however, in accordance with 
Braun’s view, as near relatives of the Campanulaceae, from 
which they are separated chiefly by the character of the an- 
droecium and the lack of latex vessels. 
Eighty-five genera, of which by far the larger number be- 
long to the Eastern Hemisphere, constitute this family. They 
are mostly natives of the tropical or subtropical latitudes, a 
few only being natives of the temperate zones. For this 
reason the obtaining of material for this study has been beset 
with difficulties. Material suitably prepared was difficult to 
obtain from the native habitats of some of the desirable forms, 
and those cultivated at New York City and Syracuse, N. Y. 
were in many cases unproductive. The eighty-five genera 
fall naturally into five tribes recognized by Engler and 
Prantl. Of the eight tribes into which the family was di- 
vided by Cogniaux”™ four have been reduced very properly, 
it would seem, to subordinate rank. The tribes as they shall 
be considered here are the Fevilleae, Melothrieae, Cucurbi- 
teae, Sicyoideae and Cyclanthereae. 
The forms which have been studied in connection with this 
work comprise seventeen species selected partly because they 
were the best available, but at the same time an effort was 
made to obtain forms which would be as typical as possible 
of different tribes and representative of the mest widely dif- 
fering forms. They are divided among the different tribes 
as follows: in the Fevilleae, Fevzllea cordifolia L.; in the 
Melothrieae, AMelothria pendula L., Apodanthera undulata 
Asa Gray; in the Cucurbiteae, Momordica Charantia L., 
Luffa acutangula(L.) Roxb., Crtrullus Crtrullus (L.) Karst. 
(Citrullus vulgaris Schrad.), Cucumis myriocarpus Naud., 
