IN CEYLON, 
7 
believed that the coloured body filling the lumina of the 
secondary xylem elements was neither a gum nor a resin, 
but one of unknown and singular chemical composition. 
This subject was then taken up by Belohonbek* * * § and 
Hohnel,t the former concluding, after a detailed chemical 
analysis, that the black contents of the timber, soluble in 
alkali, were mainly humus acids, and the remaining material, 
insoluble in alkali, more or less pure carbon. 
Moeller made another contribution at about the same time 
dealing with the anatomy of the bark, and the origin layer 
of the phellogen. SolerederJ also made additions to our 
knowledge on the same subject, and described the histological 
details of the secondary elements and the papillae on the 
under surface of the leaves of many species. Radlkofer§ 
discussed the value of internal characters, and stated that in 
the Ebenaceæ the affinity so apparent in the flowers may be 
reflected in the anatomical construction of the vegetative 
parts. In the same year Weiss|| and Gürke^f published 
works on the Ebenaceæ ; the former dealing with the nature 
and origin layer of the phellogen and its products, and the 
latter discussing the leading anatomical and morphological 
characters as known to him. 
In 1892 the last anatomical contributions to our knowledge 
of the Ebenaceæ were made by Pomrencke** and Parmen¬ 
tier, ff the former dealing comparatively with the timbers, 
and the latter giving a detailed account of the anatomy of the 
vegetative members of very many species. The contribution 
* Belohonbek, Ebenholz, in Sitzb. K. böhm. Gesellsch. d. Wiss in Prag 
188B. 
t Höhnel, Stockwerkart Holzk., in Sitzb. Wiener Akad., Bd. LXXXIX 
Abs. 1, p. 42, 1884. 
% Solereder, Holzstruktur, 1885, pp. 68-169. 
§ Radlkofer, Durchs. P. in Sitzb., Münch. Akad., 1886, p. 323. 
|| Weiss, Korkbild., in Denkschr. Regensb. bot. G-esellsch., 1890, p. 57. 
•f Gürke, in Nat. PfiL, IY. Theil, Abth. 1, 1890. 
** Pomrencke, Holz, einig, symp. Fam. in Arb. bot. Gart. Breslau, 1892, 
p. 49-51. 
ff Parmentier, Histologie comparée des Ébénacées, Paris, 1892. 155 figs., 
4 pis. 
