552 Drummond. — Besleria Intea , Linn., a New 
glands all over its surface, but especially in the vicinity of the vascular 
bundles, which lie at the adaxial edge of the central mesophyll. These 
glands agree in general structure with the trichome-hydathodes of Clero- 
dendron Minahassae , Teijsm. and Binn., as described by Koorders (Ann. 
Jard. Buit., xiv, 1897), but offer some features of interest which will be dealt 
with in a subsequent communication. 
There is every reason to suppose that the liquid contained in the calyx- 
tube is secreted by the capitate glands of the inner calyx-epidermis. In all 
the cases of water-calyx previously described, glandular trichomes occur in 
a similar position, although in certain of the instances investigated by 
Koorders ( 1 . c.), e. g. Parmentiera cereifera , Seem., and Crescentia Ctijete , 
Linn., the outer epidermis of the corolla is also provided with similar 
structures. The corolla of Besleria lutea , Linn., possesses no features 
suggestive of a special water-secreting capacity, and the relatively feeble 
development of its vascular system tells against any such activity on its part. 
The calyx, on the other hand, has a well-developed system of vascular 
strands, the glandular hairs are most plentiful in the neighbourhood of these 
strands, and the intervening parenchyma tends to arrange itself in rows 
radiating from the bundles towards the glanduliferous strips of the inner 
epidermis. 
The physiological or ecological value of water-calyces is obscure. 
Koorders (1. c.) regards water-calyx as a device for protecting the other 
parts of the flower against desiccation. That may quite probably be the 
function, or one of the functions, of the calyx in such a tree as Spathodea 
campaimlata , Beauv., which, as Treub (Ann. Jard. Buit., viii, 1890) has 
remarked, bears the large flowers massed together at the ends of its 
branches, where they are regularly exposed to intense insolation. This 
explanation is, however, not so readily applicable to Besleria lutea , Linn., 
which, in Jamaica, inhabits a very humid and only moderately hot region, 
and which, moreover, is generally to be met with in the shade of taller 
shrubs or trees. I found it, for example, growing luxuriantly on the banks 
of the Mabess River, in a deep, densely wooded valley, where the atmo- 
spheric humidity is so constantly high that epiphyllous growth is extra- 
ordinarily prevalent. Lagerheim (Ber. d. deutsch. bot. Ges., ix, 1891) has 
suggested that water-calyx may serve as a protection against perforation of 
the corolla by humming-birds and other nectar thieves. At Cinchona, open 
flowers of Besleria lutea , Linn., are very frequently injured by some animal, 
which lacerates the limb of the corolla ; but I did not observe the plant 
being visited either by humming-birds (two species of which are very common 
in the neighbourhood) or by any other animal. 
I had no opportunity of determining the chemical composition of the 
liquid secreted by the calyx, but, according to my field-notes, it is clear and 
slightly mucilaginous, when fresh, and has a distinctly saline taste. 
