1842.] On the Gem and Coins described in Nos. 7 and 8. 145 



many historical difficulties by the ascertainment of the value of the 

 letters, and the consequent determination of the language they express- 

 ed, is very possible, and is very much more than probable. 



My own task is accomplished, if by the brief remarks above made, 

 and by the curious analogies brought forward, I shall have succeeded in 

 awakening the attention of competent enquirers to the subject. Few, 

 it is true, have opportunities in this country of devoting time to the study 

 of such subjects. Many though have the means of forming collec- 

 tions, which however indiscriminately made, will furnish the material and 

 the means for enquiry. I sincerely trust, that no man able to appre- 

 ciate the importance of such an investigation, and more particularly, 

 that no member of the Asiatic Society, will fail to avail himself of every 

 occasion to further it. |X| 



Observations on the Genus Spathium. By M. P. Edgeworth, Esq. 



Happening to meet with two species of Aponogeton (Roxb.) in this 

 neighbourhood, I compared them with the generic character of Spa- 

 thium in Endlicher's Genera Plantarum, to which they are referable. I 

 observed that he describes the embryo as unknown, and therefore, espe- 

 cially directed my attention to that point. By Endlicher, the genus 

 is referred to Saururese, I am therefore not a little surprised on examin- 

 ing the S. undulatum, to find it distinctly monocotyledonous, with a 

 large fleshy cotyledon embracing a plumule of unusual size and deve- 

 lopment. On examining the seed of S. monastachys, however, I found 

 a very different structure, a homogeneous mass, in which I could find 

 no trace of an embryo ; but on causing the seeds to germinate,* which 

 they do freely in water kept in a cup, I discovered that this homogeneous 

 mass is in reality the cotyledon and the plumule, which after an interval 

 of some days developes itself through a slit at the base of the horn- 

 shaped cotyledon. 



The Sp. undulatum likewise germinated readily. The only other 

 point to be noticed now, is, whether these two plants are referable to 

 one and the same genus, while so marked a difference exists in the 

 embryo. The one with the plumule of unusual size, (equalled only 

 by the developement of that part in Nelumbium,) and the foliaceous coty- 

 ledon — the other with its plumule invisible even at the commencement 



* I owe this experiment to Dr. Falconer's kindness. 



