2 Humphrey . — The Development of the 
to delay longer the publication of the results already reached, 
since it is difficult to obtain suitable material of these almost 
exclusively tropical plants. 
The materials studied have been preserved in alcohol and 
have been drawn from various sources, as follows : Canna 
indica , L., from the beds, and Strelitzia Reginae , Ait., from the 
greenhouses of the Botanic Garden at Bonn ; Musa sp. and 
Heliconia psittacorum , L. fil., and H. Bihai , L., from Mr. E. 
Campbell, lately superintendent of the Botanic Gardens at 
Castleton, Jamaica, through the courtesy of the Director of 
Public Gardens and Plantations, Mr. Wm. P'awcett, F.L.S. ; 
Costus sp. and C. speciosus , Sm., Alpinia mutica , Roxb., and 
Elettaria sp., from the Botanic Gardens at Buitenzorg. Java, 
by the generosity of the Director, Dr. M. Treub; Amomum 
elongatum (Teijsm. et Binn.), Alpinia alata , A. Dietr., and 
Phrynium capitatnm, Willd., brought by him from Java, most 
kindly placed at my disposal by Prof. A. F. W. Schimper, of 
Bonn; Thalia dealbata , Fraser, Calathea densa , Regel, and 
Globba bidbifera , Roxb., collected by myself at the Royal 
Gardens, Kew, by permission of the Director and under the 
genial guidance of the Curator, George Nicholson, Esq., F.L.S. 
To each of the gentlemen above named I am under deep 
obligation for the willing assistance which has made these 
studies possible. And I owe to Prof. Eduard Strasburger 
the freest use of the Botanic Garden and of his library, in 
addition to the inestimable advantage of his constant advice 
and cordial interest during my work in Bonn. 
In the arrangement of Monocotyledonous plants by Bentham 
and Hooker, the Scitamineae are treated as a single c natural 
order,’ while the arrangement of the modern German systema- 
tists makes of these plants a series co-ordinate with the 
Liliiflorae, Glumiflorae, and the rest. And indeed the marked 
variations which the members of the group show among them- 
selves makes the latter treatment seem preferable. These 
plants agree with most Monocotyledons in their typically 
tricarpellary gynaeceum and diplostemonous androecium. 
Chiefly on the basis of the variations in these parts, the 
