present season detected some interesting pecu 
-^( 809 ) 
- peculiar Structure of its Subterranean Leaves: in a Lett 
Robert Brown, Esq., F.R.S. V.P.L.S. By J. E. Bo&man, 
Esq., F.L.S. 
XX. On the Parasitical Connection of Lathrea Squamaria, ap 
Read November 3, 1829. 
T uz study of Vegetable Physiology, comprehending the affini- 
ties and properties of plants, and the relation they bear to the 
animal kingdom, constitutes, doubtless, in every point of view, 
the most important as well as the most delightful branch of 
botany, and claims for it a rank among the natural sciences, to 
which it would not be intitled, if confined merely to nomen- 
clature and system. "Though the general laws which govern the 
structure and oiconomy of vegetables be now tolerably under- 
stood, there are many deviations from them, which offer to the 
philosophic botanist subjects peculiarly worthy of his study and 
investigation. Here a vast and almost unexplored field lies before 
. him, where analogy can contribute little assistance, and where his. 
progress must be proportionably slow and unsatisfactory. 
Perhaps the most striking exceptions to the prevailing laws are 
found in the tribe of parasitic plants, whether they be Phzenoga- 
mous or Cryptogamous. Having in the course of. the last and 
eculiarities in an indi- 
vidual ut the former of f these ie the Lathraa Squamaria*, + 
vids 
* It is uspět shit we Shave two British species, or at least varieties of this pine. 
I have in Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, vol. 1. p. 105, stated. the « differen 
VOL. XVI. SF >t 
