Mr. J. Miers on some of the Heliotropiese. 191 rejection of the barbarous Argyope^ which has obtained cur-rency with Lucas, Walckenaer and others. Latreille* has changed it (on what grounds I know not) to Argyopes^ making it a masculine ; and he is followed by Sundevall, Koch, Key-«erling, and others. It is desirable that the genus should henceforth resume its original and correct name — Argiope^ Sav. & Aud. XIX. — Observations on some of the Heliotropieae. By John Miees, F.R.S., F.L.S., &c. [Concluded from p. 133.] Messekschmidtia. The late Mr. Robert Brown (in 1810) pointed out the neces-sity of constituting a distinct genus for those species of Tourne-fortia which differed from all the others in having the border of the corolla cleft into subulate lobes, a baccate fruit contain-ing four nucules (each unilocular and monospermous), the seed with a very curved embryo and a superior radicle (Prodr. p. 496); but he omitted giving a name to the genus. In 1819 Homer and Schultes adopted this view, calling the genus Messerschmidtiaj a name previously given by Linnaeus to those species of Tournefortia which have a fruit with two nucules, each 2-celled. As such characters, according to their showing, belonged to Tournefortia proper, the Messerschmidtia of Linnseus naturally fell to the ground. Adopting it, there-fore, for the group in question, they enumerated eleven species, all natives of the New World, mostly climbing or subscandent plants ; but it is strange that among these there appears only one species that answers to the essential characters of their own generic diagnosis. G. Don (1837), following the same train, amplified the species to twenty-four, in total disregard of the distinguishing features of Messerschmidtia^ associating with them several belonging to Heliophytum. Endlicher (1838) acknowledged the genus, and gave it a tolerably correct dia-gnosis, though with some few errors. By some authors the name has been applied to other very different groups, selected from Tournefortia] and this has caused no little confusion. DeCandolle, in his elaboration of the Borraginece (in 1845), quite ignored Messerschmidtia as a genus, admitting neither that of Linnaeus nor of Homer and Schultes ; but he retained this name, as a section, for a small number of species of Tour-nefortia possessing very different characters (Prodr. ix. 528). * Cuyier's Regne Animal, nouv. 6d. iv. p. 70 (1829). 14*
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