Am.  Jour.  Pbarm.  ) 
July,  1879.  / 
Alkaloids  of  the  Veratrum  Family. 
367 
distinguished.  The  seeds  are  longer  than  those  of  the  Calabar  bean, 
nearly  cylindrical,  of  a  reddish-brown  color,  with  few  exception  of  a 
darker  hue,  and  the  hilum  does  not  extend  quite  to  the  extremity  of 
the  bean  at  the  end  where  the  micropyle  is  visible,  but  forms  there  a 
slight  projection,  or  when  the  projection  is  not  marked,  a  portion  of 
the  bean  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length  may  be  distinctly  seen 
beyond  it  at  that  end. 
N?  i. 
N?  2. 
No.  i.  Physostigma  <venenosum ;  a>  showing  shape  of  the  seed;  ^/showing  the 
'length  of  the  hilum  ;  c,  transverse  section  showing  cavity  between  the  cotyledons. 
No.  2.  Physostigma  cylindrospermum  j  a,  showing  relative  length  of  hilum;  b, 
transverse  section,  showing  different  shape  of  bean. 
In  the  Calabar  bean  the  color  is  mostly  very  dark  purplish-brown  or 
nearly  black.  The  hilum  extends  the  whole  length  of  the  bean,  so 
that  neither  end  of  it  is  visible  when  the  hilum  faces  the  eye,  and  frag- 
ments of  the  funiculus  often  remain  attached  as  a  whitish  line  to  the 
edges  of  the  hilum.  The  seed  is  also  broadest  in  the  middle  and  taper- 
ing towards  the  ends,  and  is  somewhat  flattened  at  the  sides.  This 
character  is  most  easily  seen  by  transverse  section,  No.  1.  c. — Pbar. 
Jour,  and  Trans.,  May  10,  1879. 
The  ALKALOIDS  of  the  VERATRUM  FAMILY— parts  3,  4. 
By  C.  R.  A.  Wright  and  A.  P.  Luff. 
Alkaloids  of  Veratrum  Album. — The  authors  have  examined  the  alka- 
loids extracted  from  12  kilos  of  dried  roots,  by  percolating  with  alco- 
'hoi  acidified  by  tartaric  acid  (1  part  per  200  of  roots),  evaporating  to  a 
