TRANSACTIONS THE LINNEAN SOCIETY. I. On the Structure and Affinities o/'Balanophorese. By Joseph Dalton Hooker, Esq., M.D., F.B.S., F.L.S^SfC. Read February 6th, February 20th and June 19th, 1855. The materials from wMch tMs Essay has been drawn up, have been accuniulating on my hands for a considerable period. They consist principally of — 1. A very complete set of the American species, especially of the Selosidece, formed at the desu'e of Sir WUliam Hooker, in New Grenada, Jamaica, and Trinidad, in 1846 and 1847, by Mr. William Purdie, at that time collector for the Royal Gardens at Kew. He gathered nine species, including several new genera, and preserved many specimens of most, both dried and in spirits. 2. I am indebted to Prof. Liebmann of Copenhagen for the species collected by him in Mexico, together with drawings of them ; a translation of his paper on Thonningia and Selosis mexicana, read before the Society of Scandinavian Naturalists at Christiania ; and the loan of the original specimens of Thonningia, from the herbaria of Vahl and Schumacher. 3. Mr. Miers has placed at my disposal his Brazilian specimens of Langs-dorffia hypogcea and Selosis guyanensis, from Rio and the La Plata district, together with his sketches of them made on the spot. 4. Sir Robert Schomburgk has given me his drawings of the same genera, made in Guiana; and I have also received from other travellers numerous specimens of them. 5. For the South African genera Sarcophyte and Mystropetalon I am indebted to Dr. Harvey, who, during his residence at the Cape, communicated beautiful specimens of them to Su* WUliam Hooker. 6. Of the Indian BalanophorecB I have very extensive suites of specimens indeed ; having had, in the Hima-laya and Khasia mountains, the opportunity of studying several species in many stages of growth. I have also examined most of the specimens collected by Mr. Griffith himself, from which he described the species for the Society's Transactions ; and I have received the Peninsular and Ceylon B. indica from Wight, Gardner, and Thwaites. 7. Su* William Hooker has procured the Javanese species from Mr. Thomas Lobb, Prof, de Vriese of Leydcn, and others. 8. For specimens of the original species of Balanophora (B. fun-gosa of Forster), I am indebted to Mr. M'GHliATay, who found it on the N.E. coast of VOL. XXII. B
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