5 ^ 
Groom. — On a New 
these two families is even more completely illustrated if 
Petroscivia has indeed an apocarpous pistil ; and one would 
feel inclined, in spite of its monocliny, eumery, and multi- 
ovulate carpels, to include Petroscivia in the Triuridaceae. 
This investigation has been carried out in the Botanical 
Laboratory of the University of Oxford, and I desire to 
express my appreciation of the facilities which have been 
placed at my disposal. 
Mr. H. N. Ridley has been good enough to prepare the 
following technical description of the plant, based on observa- 
tions of his own as well as on mine, and to append a brief 
note : — 
Protolirion, gen. nov. 
Herba saprophytica parva perennis, omnino pallide 
ocreo-flava, rhizomate gracili sublignoso 1-3 pollices longo, 
1 mm. crasso. Caiiles 1-7 laterales erecti graciles teretes 
saepe flexuosi. Folia squamiformia, ad basin caulis congesta, 
superne remota, inferiora 2 mm. longa, vaginis teretibus 
oribus integris, laminis lanceolatis obtusis caule appressis, 
carinatis ; superiora vaginis multo brevioribus internodia 5 mm. 
longa haud tegentibus, laminis angustioribus acuminatis acutis 
3J mm. longis. Racemus corymbiformis ad sexflorus. Flores 
parvi flavi patentes, pedicellis 10 mm. longis suberectis. 
Bracteae singulae lanceolatae obtusae bifidae. Sepala anguste 
linearia-lanceolata acuminata parva. Petala majora ovata 
obtusa alterna. Stamina 6, tria epigyna, tria epipetala, petalis 
breviora, filamentis teretibus crassiusculis superne attenuatis, 
antheris oblongis basifixis loculis ad basin divergentibus, in mar- 
ginibus dehiscentibus. Nectaria tria petalis opposita. Pistillum 
basi inferiore perianthio adnato syncarpo, superne superius 
liberum, apocarpum, carpellis 3 distinctis patentibus follicu- 
laribus in stylis brevibus attenuatis stigmatibus capitatis 
papillosis. Placentatio axillaris. Ovula in seriebus duabus 
anatropa. Capsulae ovoideae recurvae patentes in margine 
superiore dehiscentes. Semina in carpello utroque 12 elliptico- 
