34^j Botanical Society of Edinburgh, minous, as in Bignoniace^, whereas in those of the Myoporacea the embryo is always contained within albumen. After the comparison of these several circumstances, the author is imable to perceive the existence of any marked affinity between Oxycladus and any genus of the MyoporacetB, and therefore sees no reason to alter the conclusion at which he formerly arrived, that this genus, although deviating from the usual form of its fruit and seed, bears in every essential respect all the characteristic features of a member of the family of the Bignoninceee. It is not however in the singularity of the large fleshy cotyledons, or the wingless state of the seed, that Oxycladus is remarkable, for Mr. Miers has shown that these occur in other genera of the BignoniacecB ; its peculiarity consists in the development of only one of its many ovules, and in the shape of its cotyledons, which in most other instances are deeply cordate, or almost bipartite at each extremity, with the radicle placed between the lobes : in this genus, however, they are entire, oval, and plano-convex ; in Rhiyozum they are likewise fleshy, orbicular, and entire. The limits of many genera of BignoniacecB appear, Mr. Miers adds, ill-defined, and the chai'acters derivable from the seeds much neglected. Fenzl and DeCandolle have done much in extending our knowledge of the family, but the subject still requires farther investigation, for he has observed many singular deviations from recorded structure that have not yet been noticed. Should it be found desirable to class Rhigozum with Oxycladus, the character suggested for this tribe in his former paper would require modifica-tion. In that of the Crescentiece, this name ought to be suppressed, and that of Tanceeiea substituted, with the same character there indicated : all the genera of this section of DeCandolle's Prodromus strictly coincide with the Bignoniacea in their completely 2-locular ovarium, and in the development of their ovules on the surface of the dissepiment, and they agree also with the genus Bignonia in the form of their embryo : Crescentia and Kigelia, however, present characters wholly at variance with the Order, because of their parietal placentation. He is not, however, persuaded of the pro-priety of establishing a separate order for these two genera, which has been done upon high authority, when they might so well form a good tribe of the Cyrtandratcje. Crescentia, with its large amygdaloid embryo, does not differ more widely from the CyrtandracecB, than Adenocalymna does from Bignonia : in habit and in floral structure the two last-mentioned genera are scarcely distinguishable. \\AriiU{:^ BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. July 13, 1854. — Professor Balfour, President, in the Chair. The following papers were read : — 1. "Notice of a new species of Caulerpa,"*' by R. K. Greville, LL.D. &c. This paper will be found in the * Annals ' for September, and in the Society's Transactions. Professor Edward Forbes remarked, that the plant resembled
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