262 
and of the fruit of T. testudinum until recently in the North 
American Flora, vol. 17, p. 73. ver the pistillate flowers 
or the fruit of Thalassia have been oe these descriptions 
have always, as far as could be ascertained, been drawn from the 
only other species of the genus, T. Hemprichii of the Indian and 
Pacific Oceans. As T. testudinum is the type of the genus Tha- 
lassia, and T. Hemprichit was originally described under another 
eneric name Schizotheca, it has been doubtful if these two 
species a to the same genus. The material collected by 
Mr. on has enabled us to settle this point.’ 
The frit | is covered with very numerous finger-like processes 
characteristic of T. Hemprichti, the only difference being that 
it is ellipsoid instead of globular. The writer intended to make 
a more careful investigation of the morphological structure of 
the fruit, but the dry material, more or less crushed and distorted 
by pressing, could not be restored to its original condition and 
the sections made were as a whole unsatisfactory. me fa 
was ascertained, however, viz., that the fruit is but imperfectly 
g-12-celled, the partitions not quite meeting at the center. In 
most members of the Frog’s-bit Family, the fruit is completely 
several-celled. 
The turtle-grass is a perennial with a horizontal rootstock 
creeping in the sand or mud. The erect stems are very short, 
at the base covered with fibers and bleached sheaths, remnants of 
old leaves. The leaves are linear, somewhat fleshy, 6-12 mm. 
(4-% inch) wide. In the flowering specimens collected by Mr. 
Wilson, they are only 5-15 cm. (2~6 inches) long, but in sterile 
material (ours is mostly collected in the fall and winter), they are 
often 30-40 cm. (12-16 inches) long. The flower stalks arise 
from the inside of the sheaths; often two or three are produced 
in succession by the same plant. The illustration shows a plant 
with two flowers, of which one is just opening and the other 
has just fallen, only the stalk and spathe remaining. The stami- 
more or less toothed on the sides and rounded at the apex. In 
