45 Remarks on (he fruit of the Natural Order Cucurhitacf:(B. [July 



*' Section 6 might with advantage be suppressed, and its only genus re- 

 ferred to section 5. Sections 7 and 9 would be better united, the anthers 

 being the same in both; transferring, however, Cucurhita to section 8, 

 on account of the anthers, which are similar to those of Trichosanthes, 

 making the insertion of the filaments a matter of secondary considera- 

 tion, a generic not a sectional distinction. 



" The difference between sections 7 and 8 would then be — not that in 

 the former the anther is lobed and in the other entire, but that in sec- 

 tion 7 the back is traversed by an elevated gyrose ridge, on the top of 

 which the long gyrose anther is placed, while in section 8 there is no 

 such elcTation, the anther cell being sunk into the substance of the con- 

 nectivum, not elevated on a ridge with a deep furrow between each 

 bend. To this may be added that the connectiva in section 8 is 

 elongated ; hence, from the union of the three, a cylinder results, while in 

 the other their union produces a sort of capitulum. 



" Bryonia Garcim\ doubtfully referred to Bryonia^ is a new species of 

 Pylogyne : Bryonia leiosperrna^ I find, from the examination of dried 

 specimens, is a second species of Muh'a, with which it agrees well in 

 habit. 



" Notwithstanding these differences of opinion, it is not my intention 

 to alter the conspectus, but print it simply as it reached me, the few ad- 

 ditions I have to make, being included within brackets — thus [ ]. 

 Before proceeding further it may be well to explain what is meant by the 

 term tri-adelphous, as applied to this family, which is of such frequent 

 occurrence in the following characters. The normal structure of Cucur' 

 bitacece is to have five stamens, in place of which we usually find only 

 three ; but when these are carefully examined it appears that two of 

 them are twice the size of the third, and are actually made up of two 

 united : each set is then called an adelphi or brotherhood, and the three 

 together tri-adelphous This structure is readily seen in the Pekunkei 

 (Cucumis acutangnlus, Ainsley) where the anthers do not cohere. In 

 those where they do cohere it is not so clearly seen, as they then re- 

 quire to be separated artificially before it can be made out. 



" In some genera the anthers are described as being one or two- celled ; 

 these characters require to be used with caution, as being generally of 

 very difficult application in practice. Theoretically every anther is two- 

 celled, and here in examining a number of instances with particular 

 care, under a high magnifier, I have found most of them actually two- 

 celled, though on less careful examination they appeared only one- 

 celled. If such is the case when examined with fresh specimens, how 

 much more liable to error must \fe be when working with d ried ones. 



