18 ON THE PROTEACEiK OF JUSSIKU.
concave tops of the laciniae of the calyx ; all considerable deviations from which may safely be employed in charac- 30] tensing genera. In this way Bhopala, Xylomelum, and Lamberila are readily distinguished from Embothfium, GrewHea, and Hakea ; and thus also Persoonia and Bra- bejum remarkably differ from Guevina ; while Bellendena differs from all others in having its stamina distinct from the calyx, affording however an indication of the real origin of these organs in the whole family.
The deviations from the usual structure of anthers in this order are not many ; but some of them are of so sin- gular a nature as to constitute the essential characters of the genera in which they take place. These genera are Simsia, Conospermum, and Synaphea, all of which are most truly syngenesious ; for not only do their antherae firmly cohere together, but the corresponding lobes of these being, when considered separately, entirely open, are so applied to each other as to form but one cell, without a trace of any in- termediate membrane. In Simsia the four antherae are perfect, each consisting, as in the rest of the order, of two lobes, and therefore the whole before bursting constitute four cells. Whereas in Conospermum and Synaphea one filament is entirely barren, the two lateral ones have each a single-lobed anthera, and the fourth alone is perfect : hence before bursting the whole form only two cells.
This remarkable structure, which can only be ascer- tained before the opening of the calyx, necessarily escaped Dr. Smith in describing his Conospermum, for I conclude he had only the expanded flower before him, and the appearance of the antherae in this state after their separa- tion justifies him in referring the genus to Tetrandria : but according to the view now given of its structure, it can have no other pretension to a place in this class than its belonging to Proteaceae ; and the order Syngenesia Mono- gamia being abolished, it must be referred to Triandria.
The only remaining anomaly in these parts occurs in si] Franklandia, and consists in the anthera, or rather that portion of the filament on which it is fixed, adhering to the calyx through its whole length.
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