RHAMNUS Sp. nov. 

 PL XII, fig. 8. 



Seed (much crushed) elongate obovate mucronate; hilum ventral linear gaping, 

 very large depressed ; inside showing fine striae, which follow the curve of the embryo. 



Length 6.2 mm., breadth 3.2 mm. Reuver. 



We have compared this seed with those of all species of Rhamnus in the Kew 

 Herbarium which are comparable in size, and with many which are not. No species 

 is mucronate, and in all which have the elongate gaping hilum this reaches much nearer 

 to the apex than in our species. We cannot describe our seed as a new species, for it 

 is too much crushed and distorted. We illustrate with it a seed of Rhamnus infectoria 

 Linn. (fig. 9) which has a similar hilum. 



GENUS Nov.? 

 PL XII, fig. 10. 



Fruit ovate; endocarp obscurely 3*lobed, 34oculed, septicidally dehiscent at 

 apex for about V 7 its length; base showing 3 large pores. 



Length 5 mm., breadth 3.8 mm. Brunssum. 



This fruit appears to fall within the section Rhamneae of the family Rhamnaceae. 

 Like many of the Rhamnaceae the fruit has been seated on a large disc formed by the 

 calyxstube, from which when ripe the fruit detaches itself, as in Hovenia (China, Japan, 

 Himalaya) and Ceanothus (fig. 11, North America). In these genera, and, as we believe, 

 in our fossil also, the disc is confluent with the pericarp. In the living genera however 

 the disc is circular and carried some way up the fruit, leaving when shed a cincture 

 round the fruit, below which the endocarp is exposed. In the fossil the disc must have 

 been 3*lobed, and the pericarp and endocarp conterminous, so that when shed the 

 pericarp reached to the lobes, and there was no cincture. 



We should place this fruit near the genera Hovenia and Ceanothus. Though there 

 is a slight dehiscence at the apex of our fossil it does not seem essential for germination, 

 for the fruit was shed as a whole, and germination has apparently taken place through 

 the basal pores, towards which the micropyle opens in Rhamnaceae. 



It is noticeable that we have as yet only 4 fruits or seeds belonging to Rhamnaceae, 

 but that these 4 specimens represent 4 genera. 



VITACEAE. 



VITIS VINIFERA Linn. 



PL XII, figs. 12, 13. 



Reuverian seeds are somewhat larger, less facetted, and more wrinkled transs 

 versely than those of the wild vine of the Caucasus; but otherwise they are indistinguish* 

 able. The prominent beak and cordate apex distinguish these seeds from any other 



115 



