950 Transactions.— Botany). 
Obs. I have both sought and watched this plant very closely ; from the 
fact of its widely different general appearance at all stages from T. nemoralis, 
and yet, on examination and dissection, I find it possessing such scanty 
differential characters; the principal ones consisting in its plumose stamin- 
odia rising above the tip of the column—its narrower and variegated sepals 
—its slenderer proportions, dusky aspect and fewer flowers. In all these 
however it is very uniform ; as I have seen and examined (through patiently 
waiting for their development) some scores of flowers and plants. It has 
also a peculiar habit of growth, being often found in little clumps (like 
crocuses and jonquils), from which arise 6-12 scapes. It wears a very 
striking and elegant appearance, when its dark perianths with their seg- 
ments edged with white are about expanding, from their contrasts in colour. 
Notwithstanding the column-appendages being produced beyond its tip, 
while in T. nemoralis they are below it, this species is naturally very closely 
allied to that one. 
Orver VII. LILIACEZE. 
Genus 2, Callixene, Comm. 
1, Callizene melantha, sp. nov. 
Perianth darkish-green, 1j inches diameter; segments obtuse, 8 outer 
ovate-acuminate, thickish, obsoletely veined longitudinally ; 8 inner narrower 
and thinner, broadly-linear, incurved, venation netted; filaments brown, 
stout, broad at base, longer than anthers; anthers bright yellow, sub-linear- 
ovate, 3 lines long, tips emarginate, base sagittate, extrorse; style brown, 
sub-angular, tapering ; stigma ochraceous, small, papillose. 
Hab. East sides of Ruahine mountain range, County of Waipawa; 
1888: Mr. Hamilton. 
Obs. I. The anthers and stigma of this species more closely resemble 
those of C. polyphylla (a South Chilian plant) than they do those of C. parvi- 
flora, the only known New Zealand species. 
Obs. II. Ihave received but a single unexpanded flower! all that was 
by chance obtained; fortunately it was mature, uninjured, and fresh. It 
appears that Mr. Hamilton, on his return from the forests, was clearing out 
some mosses, leaves, etc., from the outer pockets of his coat, and found 
among them this one flower-bud (alabastrum), and kindly gave it to me. 
For some time it puzzled me, its dark green colour, so unlike that of ` 
a flower, and its being closely shut up, helped to disguise it; it more 
resembled a caper bud than anything else; but on soaking, dissection, etc., 
I found out what it was, and believe it will prove to be a new species of 
Callixene, It is allied to C. parviflora, which bears a much smaller and 
white flower and has a very different stigma ; this latter, however, grows on 
the same range at a much higher altitude. - 
