40 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
p. 8), of uniting the several families distinguished by the cha- 
racters there indicated into a distinct class {Cionospernue), the 
place which it should occupy in the system having been already 
made obvious. If we look to the development of the reproduc- 
tive organs in plants as a main element in the foundation upon 
which every natural method of classification should be based, 
then the arguments before adduced on this head ought to be 
considered with all the weight due to them {ante p. 26). I have 
there pointed out what appears to be the normal construction of 
the carpels in this group of families, and the sourees from which 
the placentae and ovules spring, and have again contrasted this 
with the normal structure of other classes of the system, the 
clear inference being, that the Cionosperma should range in the 
Thalamiflorce, between Polycarpicce and Rhceades [ante p. 26). 
WTiatever may be conceded on this point as regards Olacacece, 
it may perhaps be objected, that a position so high in the scale 
is not compatible with the Santalacece, generally placed in a far 
lower grade ; but if we consider the usual fioral parts to be there 
existing and perfect, as we must admit from analogy, although 
but sparingly developed, this cannot be urged as a sufficient 
reason against the admission of that family into such a position, 
especially when no objections have been urged against the station 
assigned to the Menispermacece, placed in the midst of other 
families possessed of an unusually high extent of development in 
its fioral pai’ts, merely because its petals are reduced to the size 
of minute scales and its fiowers very diminutive and dioecious. 
Neither did DeCandolle hesitate to arrange the Myristicacea in 
a similar position, although they have small dioecious flowers, 
with a simple perigonium ; nor have any obstacles been raised 
against such a position by other botanists upon this score alone. 
Another objection may be urged, that in Santalacece the seed is 
often naked*, that is, deficient of any testa or integuments; but- 
this is perhaps not always so, and its occurrence here, as we 
know it to be in other cases, is probably due to adventitious 
causes. We have every reason to believe, that the development of 
the ovule and its embiyo in the Olacacece is analogous to what 
has been observed in Santalacece : assuredly the early growth 
of the ovules is effected under the same peculiar circumstances, 
and in the seeds of Liriosma, Ximenia, &c., the albumen appears 
* I do not use this term in the meaning employed by Linnaeus, for seeds 
developed upon a gynophorus, such as Labiatce, &c. ; nor as used by Mr. 
Brown, to denote the seeds of Conifera, Cycadece, &c., in which sense it is 
now generally understood ; but as no expression has been applied to the 
peculiar development under consideration, I would suggest that of Semina 
exutiva, as more peculiarly fitted to specify those, distinguished by the ab- 
sence of the usual seminal tunics, contrary to the ordinaiy development in 
Semina indutiva. 
