128 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
albumen, within which, close to the hilum, is found a very minute 
embryo, of a short cylindrical form, rounded obtusely at each 
end, that directed towards the centre of the albumen having a 
very short but distinct cleft, indicating two minute cotyledons. 
St. Hilaire states that this embryo is entire, and that, after care- 
ful examination, he could not detect in it any trace of coty- 
ledons*. I have invariably found, on the contrary, in the seeds 
of Drimys Chilensis, the very distinct cleft above mentioned. 
St. Hilaire also describes the radicle as protruding beyond the 
albumen : I have not found this to be the case; although there 
is an appearance of such an occurrence, when the thin portion 
of the albumen that covers its extremity breaks away by its 
adherence to the inner integument, if the latter be not very 
carefully removed. The embryo is surrounded by a small quan- 
tity of glutinous juice, and from the cotyledonary cleft is seen a 
narrow tubular membrane, longer than the whole embryo, ex- 
tending along the axis of the albumen, and which, no doubt, is 
the remnant of the embryo-sac. 
We can have little hesitation in referring to their proper de- 
nomination the different seminal tunics above described. On a 
former occasion f I have entered into a lengthened discussion 
upon the structure of the sevei’al coatings of seeds in general, 
and have shown that their nature can always be determined with 
certainty by the position of the raphe in regard to them ; it has 
been demonstrated that any integument exterior to that which 
bears the raphe must be of a growth subsequent to the fertiliza- 
tion of the ovule, and therefore extraneous to, and distinct in its 
nature from those resulting from the growth of the proper 
tunics of the nucleus ; and that such coating, be it membrana- 
ceous, thick, fleshy, coriaceous, horny, or osseous, must be aril- 
liform in its origin. Judged by this rule, the black, hard, 
brittle shell of the seed of Drimys, hitherto considered as its 
testa, would be an arillus ; and the spongy coating in which the 
raphe is imbedded is that condition which I have called an aril- 
line J, or growth of the primine into the state of a thick fleshy 
integument. 
The genus Drimys consists of evergreen trees of moderate 
size, possessing a hard wood, the bark of which is extremely 
aromatic in smell and taste, whence the species peculiar to Chile 
bear there the name of Canelo, the bark of which is called 
Canela, the Spanish word for cinnamon. The leaves are alter- 
nate, generally glaucous beneath ; the inflorescence, sometimes 
axillary, is usually terminal, often in aggregated one-flowered 
peduncles, and frequently these peduncles bear on their summit 
* hoc. cit. p. 7- t Linn. Trans, xxii. p. 81. 
+ Linn. Trans, xxii. p. 89. 
