86 



been added, and I have to thank Mr. Lemmon for Astidium Moh 



J. Schneck for Aspidium Oreopteris\ J 



W 



Wright and the Parish Bros, for additional and fine series of 



specimens of Cheilanthes viscida. 



Notholaena 



N. 



to the Herbarium. 



to have been collected nearly simultaneously in 



Courtis. 



J 



Geo. E. Davenport. 



• § 64. Artificial Synopses.— Since the adoption of the natural 

 system of classification, recourse has been had to "artificial keys," 

 to a greater or less extent, for the purpose of facilitating the deter- 

 mination of species. There is a tendency to overlook the natural 

 relationship of plants, growing out of the use of these keys, which 

 can only be avoided by a careful study of the principles of classi- 

 fication in general and its application to botany in the morpho- 

 logical and structural relations of the members of the vegetable 

 kingdom. 



A wrong impression is often tacitly conveyed to students just com- 

 raencing-the study, namely, that the chief end of the " analysis of 

 plants " IS to determine botanical names, when this is really a matter 

 of convenience of secondary importance; while the first object 

 should be the determination of the structural characteristics of the 

 plant in hand, which at once distinguish it from all others, and indi- 

 cate Its relation and position in the vegetable kingdom. If the more 

 modern plan of imparting botanical instruction were rigidly carried 

 out, namely, requiring the student to write in accurate botanical lan- 

 guage the diagnostic characters of every plant studied in the prelim- 

 mary course of mstruction (say 50 or 75 plants), the number of those 

 whose early habits of study will remain a stumbling-block in the 

 iurther pursuit of botanical knowledge would be vastly decreased, 

 and the number of those who become intensely enthusiastic in the 

 science, and capable of thorough and systematic post-graduate study 

 would receive a corresponding increase. To such, artificial keys are 

 useful m economizing time, while the knowledge of structural rela- 

 tionship will not be concealed or- overlooked in the abbreviated 

 process. 



A." manual " for beginners is useful in proportion as it is accu- 

 rate and easy of application. Some of our botanical orders contain- 

 ing our most common plants are difficult for beginners chiefly for the 

 reason that the generic and specific " synopses " of the text-books 

 are founded on characters not readily determined, or are of themselves 

 difficult of application, requiring a vast ^nount of searching to find 

 the appropriate divis,on._ The following synopses may be found 

 useful in the determination of species in a few of these difficult 

 orders after the characters of the plants are carefully noted I have 

 found It convenient in studying the Salicaceae to mark those species 

 whose catkins appear before the leaves, with numbers wired to the 

 plant ; greater accuracy is thus insured and the variations in the 

 same plant from year to year may be also studied with profit 



