BALANOPHORATE2E, Cynomoriums, a natural order of Parasi tical Plants belonging to the sub-class Rhizanthece. They grow upon the roots of weedy plants, in tropical countries, rooting into their wood, from which they draw their nutriment, as the mistletoe from the branches of the thorn. None of the species have fully-formed leaves ; but, in lieu of them, closely-paeked fleshy scales clothe their stems and guard their flowers in their infancy. Succulent in texture, dingy in colour, and often springing from a brown and shapeless root stock, Balanophoracece remind the observer of Fungi more than of flowering plants : and in 'fact they appear intermediate in nature between the two. If they have flowers and sexes, both are of the simplest kind ; and their ovules, instead of changing to seeds, like those of other flowering plants, become, according to Endlicher, bags of spores, like, these of true flowerless plants. Even their woody system is of the most imperfect kind, for it is either entirely, or almost entirely, destitute of spiral vessels. It is probable that numerous genera and species of this singular 'order still remain undiscovered in the depths of tropical forests, where they lurk among the herbage, and are not likely to attract the attention of the mere flower-gathering traveller. All the species, with the exception of one found in Malta,
are natives of the tropics. The species have had a reputation as styptics. The Cynontoriunt coecincum, or Fungus Melilensis, has been employed for this purpose. Various species of Jletoais have had a similar reputation. Poppig says the Ontbrophyton is eaten in Peru. The species of Sarcophyte have an atrocious odour.
attach itself to them, and are immersed in the sea. On rocks left dry at low water, on ships, on timber, whether floating or at rest, on lobsters and other crustaceans, on the shells of conchifers and mollusks, colonies of Balani are to be found.
Balanua Pailtacus (Lepas Paittactia, Molina) is described by Captain P. P. King, RN., in his 'Description of the Cirrhipeda, Conchifera, and Mollusea, in a Colleetion formed by the Officers of H.M.S. Adven ture and Beagle, employed between the years 1826 and 1830 in surveying the Southern Coasts of South America, including the Straits of Magalhaens and the Coast of Tierra del Fuego.'