most hygrometrical externally, close firmly in moisture, and expand only in dry heat! The singular qualities of the fruits of Mesembryanthema, we find first mentioned by Dillenius--_see his Hortus Elthamensis, vol._ ii. _p._ 237. It has since been noticed by Dr. Sims, who has described the fruit M. pinnatifidum in the _Medical Journal_ for 1799, and also by Mr. Konig in the _Annals of Botany_, but we believe no elucidation of the phenomenon has been given before. Dr. Hagen, a German, who possessed the fruits of three species without knowing what they were, imagined they were the whole plants, and described them as a new and extraordinary reviviscent genus in Cryptogamia. Others have taken them for the Rose of Jericho, which is not a fruit, but a plant. The fruits of most Mesembryanthema exhibit the same metamorphosis, but with great variety. M. hispidum has the upper valves double, the inner membrane beautifully transparent. The fruit of this perfectly ripened, if put into tepid water, will fly open as if with a spring. We have made experiments with the fruits of M. latum, scalpratum, cordatum, and pugioniforme, all of which are very fine. Our specimen is from the collection of A. B. Lambert, esq. [Illustration] PLATE DXLI. PROTEA CONIFERA. _Cone-bearing Protea._ CLASS IV. ORDER I. _TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Four Chives. One Pointal. ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. COROLLA 4-fida, seu 4-petala. Antheræ lineares, petalis infra apices insertæ. Calyx proprius, nullus. Semina solitaria. BLOSSOM four-cleft, or of four petals. Tips linear, inserted into the petals below the points. Cup proper, none. Seeds solitary. SPECIFIC CHARACTER. PROTEA foliis acinaciformibus, glabris, callosis: floribus in capitulis terminalibus, pallide luteis: involucro patente, late lanceolato, concolore. PROTEA with scimitar-shaped leaves, smooth and hard. Flowers grow in terminal heads of a pale yellow colour: the involucrum is spreading, broadly lance-shaped, and the same colour as the blossoms. REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 1. A flower. 2. A chive magnified. 3. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified. Our figure represents part of a plant in the collection of G. Hibbert, esq. in the year 1803, and the smaller specimen a branch from the same plant in 1807. So considerable a latitude of growth is certainly deserving notice, as, upon a slight examination, they might easily be mistaken for distinct species. In the first year of its inflorescence its appearance is uninteresting; but in a year or two afterwards it displays such an abundance of bloom, that it then becomes a very ornamental little shrub. It is a Cape species, and requires no particular treatment more than what is common to the generality of this extensive family. [Illustration] PLATE DXLII. RUELLIA INFUNDIBULIFORMIS. _Funnel-flowered Ruellia._ CLASS IV. ORDER I. _TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Four Chives. One Pointal.