proposed New Genera of Sapotaceae. 205 
I sent Dr. Baillon rough sketches of two of the * turtle 
seeds/ and in reply to my inquiries he wrote that he had 
never seen such Sapotaceae, but that he supposed they might 
belong to the section Imbricaria of the genus Mimusops as 
some of the species have crested seeds k The Capucin, 
Northea seyckellana, Hook. fil. 2 , also approaches our plant in 
seminal characters in regard to size and the enormously large 
hilum. Baillon regards this as a species of Mimusops , rather 
than as an independent genus. 
With regard to the position of Chelonespermum , the im- 
perfect flowers collected by Mr. Comins are sufficient to 
indicate that it belongs to Baillon’ s group Illipeae, assuming 
the characters given are so far constant in the groups. As 
there were only four stamens, and some fragments of petals 
attached by the web of some insects to one of the old calyces, 
there remains only the calyx to determine which group it 
belongs to. Baillon describes the calyx of the Bumelieae as 
composed of five somewhat unequal sepals, quincuncial 
in aestivation ; the calyx of the Mimusopeae as having six to 
eight valvate or imbricate sepals in two series ; and the calyx 
of the Illipeae is described as of four sepals, imbricated in 
aestivation, two having both edges outside of the other two. 
The last is the condition in Mr. Comins’ s plant, but the seeds 
point to a close relationship to Mimusops , as suggested by 
Baillon; and should it eventually be deemed expedient to 
refer it and its immediate allies to Mimusops , the name 
Chelonespermum might be retained for sectional purposes. 
So far as the materials go, the following is a description of 
the proposed new genus, Chelonespermum . 
Flores hermaphroditi. Calycis segmenta 4, imbricata, 2 exteriora 
et 2 interiora. Corolla .... Stamina . . . antherse basifixse, ovato- 
oblongse, apiculatse. Discus obsoletus. Ovarium glabrum, 2- loculare, 
loculis uniovulatis. Dacca magna,obovoidea, carnosa; semen unicum, ex- 
centricum, saepius compresso-ovoideum, compresso-ellipticum, vel com- 
presso-orbicuiare, facie ventrali hilo omnino tecta, hilo nunc plus minusve 
1 See Gaertner, De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum, iii. t. 206. 
2 Hooker, leones Plantarum, xv. p. 57. t. 1473. 
