2 o 8 Hemsley. — Chelonespermum and Cassidispermum , 
The fifth of these singular seeds I provisionally describe as 
a new genus. 
Cassidispermum megahilum, Hemsl. 
Semen fere sphseroideum, circiter i\ poll, diametro maximo, hilo 
quam testa majore undique subaequaliter grosse indurato-muricato 
vel corrugato, processubus compressis, testa nitida pallide brunnea, 
margine vix pallidiore tenui basi emarginata supra medium irregu- 
lariter dentato-lobulata, lobulo terminali majore, cotyledonibus fere 
hemisphaericis cum testa et hilo angulum rectum formantibus. 
Seeds presented to the Museum in 1874 by Mr. John Smith, the 
first Curator of the Royal Gardens, Kew, without any information of 
their origin; but in all probability they were from the Solomon 
Islands \ 
The name is given in reference to the resemblance to the insect 
genus Cassida when seen from above, though of course very much 
enlarged. 
It is, perhaps, hardly justifiable to found a genus upon seeds 
alone ; but this is a somewhat exceptional case. The seed is 
so different from Chelonespermum that it seemed undesirable 
to place it in that genus, and it is equally different from any- 
thing else that I am acquainted with. In Chelonespermum 
the broad flattened cotyledons are parallel to the dorsiventral 
seed-coat, if I may so call it, whereas in Cassidispei'mum the 
nearly hemispherical cotyledons are at right angles to the 
smooth and corrugated hemispheres of the seed-coat. In 
Chelonespermum the seed is attached laterally and the hilum 
vertical, and there is a much greater thickness of flesh or pulp 
on the hilum side or that side next the axis. The position 
of the seed in the fruit of Cassidispermum is unknown. In 
general appearance it is near Calvaria ( Sideroxylon ) major 
(Gaertn. Fruct. iii. t. 200), but that has copious albumen 
and thin cotyledons parallel to the differentiated faces of the 
1 Since the foregoing was put into type Mr. J. R. Jackson, the Curator of the 
Kew Museums, has brought to my notice two other seeds, exactly like those 
described, labelled ‘ Abyssinia, W. Plowden, Esq.’; but this brings us no nearer 
certainty as to their origin ©r native country. 
