ON THE PROTEACEjE OP JUSSIEU.

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as gynandrous, been ever supposed to belong to De-can dria.

An oeconomy, in many respects similar to that now| described, obtains also in Orchideas; in which, however, thei processes connecting the antherae with the stigma, where\ they exist, are in many cases derived from the masses of

I ; pollen themselves; but in others they as certainly originate| from the stigma, or its glandular appendage.

The result of my examination of these two interestingorders of plants I hope hereafter to submit to the Society;and I now proceed to the proper subject of the presentpaper.

The natural order of Protege, or, as it is less excep-b tionably called, Proteace^;, was first established in the« Genera Plantarum of the celebrated Jussieu; and the' description there prefixed to it will, with a few alterations,still apply to the order, now that it has received so manyadditions, not only in species, but in very distinct genera,several of which were first published by Dr. Smith, in pothe 4th vol. of the Society’s Transactions, and othersare in the present paper submitted to the consideration ofbotanists.

The general description and definition of the order willbe most advantageously placed at the head of its systema-tic arrangement; before entering upon which, I shall offersome remarks on its geographical distribution, and likewiseon such modifications of structure in the different organs: as appear to be of the greatest importance in indicating or. characterising genera.

The geography of plants being as yet in its infancy, the(smallest addition to our knowledge of a subject whichpromises to become of considerable importance, will pro-bably be received with indulgence; and in this persuasionI venture to make the following observations on the orderbefore us. In the first place, it is remarkable that theProteace.e are almost entirely confined to the southern hemisphere . This observation originated with Mr. Dry-ancler, and the few exceptions hitherto known to it, occurconsiderably within the tropic. The fact is the more