Mr. ArzeLius’s Hifory of three Species of Trifolium. 203 
plants, his charaéteriftics alone, being fhort and concife, will not 
always fuffice to diftinguifh his plant from all others. This diffi- 
culty is great where there is no recourfe to the fpecimen itfelf 
which he defigned by fuch a name. A plant might be found in this 
country, for inftance, which Linnæus never knew; which never- 
thelefs might agree perfectly with the charaéteriftics of one in his 
fyftem, though it differed very effentially from it in many other 
refpects: this might give rife to miftakes; as has frequently 
been the cafe. | 
IfLinnæus hasbeen theinvoluntary caufe of fuch confufion,he has, 
however, a claim to our indulgence; for, independent of his want of 
leifure for minutely inveftigating every appellation given each plant 
by various botanifts, he could not, in claffifying nature, derive any 
affiftance from preceding authors, as thefe in general furnifhed him 
but with a vague and confufed found of terms, owing to their own 
ignorance and careleffnefs, whereby they have ftrangely miftaken 
and confounded many very different plants. This has particularly 
been the misfortune of that inaccurate compiler Cafpar Bauhin, 
and in a great meafure alfo of Haller; fo that, in confulting the 
former efpecially, one is always uncertain what he means. Another 
confideration is, that Linnzus at that time had no figures to refer 
to, except thofeof old authors, which at times are only cuts in wood, 
and for the moft part fo badly executed, that it is a hard matter, 
and fometimes even impoflible, to pronounce which plant they 
are precifely meant to reprefent ; efpecially when the queftion is of 
two fpecies nearly related. 
_ But, be this as it may, I find that the wrong quotations of Lin- 
næus have often led other authors into error; owing apparently to 
their having paid more attention to his citations than to his very 
charaéteriftic defcriptions of plants, which however are the chief 
things to be confidered ; and, if maturely weighed, fufficient to pre- 
Dd2 vent 
