64 
BOTANICAL COLLECTIONS. 
[UPPER 
a glass cover over the Table Case 3. The fruit consists of six or 
seven drupes, each containing as many seeds, the albumen of which 
has the hardness and general appearance of ivory, and is used for the 
manufacture of small objects. It is a native of the northern parts of 
South America. 
Case 15 contains stems, foliage, and fruits of different species of 
JPandanus. The stems are repeatedly branched, and marked with the 
scars of the old leaves. The long and narrow leaves are borne in a. 
triple spiral series at the ends of the branches, and as they suggested 
the tuft of leaves which crown the pine-apple, the name of Screw- 
pine was given to them. The fruits are composed of many drupes,, 
joined together so as to form large cone-like heads. These plants are 
natives of Asia and its isles, abounding near the sea. They are re- 
markable for the thick aerial roots which are thrown out from the 
stem, forming buttresses around its base. 
The Wall at the further end of this room is occupied by numerous 
specimens of Tree-Ferns. The following deserve special notice : — A 
stately trunk of Alsophila Brunoniana, divided because of its length 
into three portions, being altogether forty-five feet long, from the 
Mountains of Sylhet ; two trunks of Alsophila contaminans 
from the Phillipine Islands ; two fine species of Cyathea, from New 
Zealand, the pith of both yields a farinaceous substance resembling 
sago, which is used by the natives as food ; a large trunk of Dicksonia, 
antarctica, covered by a thick mass of matted aerial roots ; and a 
specimen of the Tree-fern of the Cape of Good Hope (Hemitelia 
capensis). 
The first three Wall Cases, returning along the right side of the 
room, together with the Table Cases in front of them (24 to 27) are 
devoted to Gymnosperms. 
The Cycade.e are arranged in Case 16, and consist of stems and 
sections of the stems of Cycas and Empphalartos ; of leaves of Cycas. 
circinalis, Encephalarfos horridus, E. Caffer and Dion edule, and of a 
model of the fruit of E ncephalartos Coffer, presented by James Yates. 
In the Table Case opposite are a series of smaller specimens of 
Cycadean fruits, chiefly presented by the same gentleman, illustrating 
various species of Cycas, Macrozamia, Kncephalaitos, Dion, Zamia, 
and Ceratozamia, among which may be particularly noticed a cone of 
Cycas revoluta, terminating in a series of foliaceous scales, a cone of 
Cycas circinalis, a double-headed cone of Macrozamia spiralis, cones, 
of Zamia Yatesii, Dion edule. A fine female cone of this last species 
is placed in a glass cover over the case. 
In Case 17 are numerous specimens illustrative of the Araucarian 
division of Conifers ; sections of tbe stem of Araucaria Cookii, 
from the Isle of Pines, one of which exhibits the mode in which the 
whorl of branches is given off; a polished knot of Araucaria excelsa, 
with a section of the same; and cones of Araucaria Brasiliana y 
A. Bidwillii, A. excelsa, and A. Coolcii. 
Case 18 contains specimens in continuation of the family of 
Conikeimo, the most remarkable of which is a section of the trunk 
