130 On the Quinary System 



Ma'am. No other Carices noticed. Molima caerulea, forming the greater 

 part of the herbage of the wettest bogs; caerulea var. depauperata, on 

 the rocks in the channel of the river at Oughterard, just below the rapids. 

 Danthonia decumbens, Oughterard, r. iVardus stricta, on the mountain 

 behind the inn at Ma'am. Lycopodium >Selago, Oughterard, r. Osmunda 

 regalis, Oughterard. ^4splenium ^diantum-nigrum, Urrisbeg : pointed out 

 to me as A. lanceolatum. ^diantum Capillus- Veneris, Urrisbeg, on a rock 

 facing s. w. on the shore of Lough Bulard. Aspidium cristatum, Oughte- 

 rard, only one plant seen. Hymenophyllum Wilsom, Shanafolia Mountain. 



A List of Species of Shells found near to Roundstone, by Mr. W. MacCalla. 



A'rca nucleus, N6<3P ; i?uccinum reticulatum, macula; Cardium edule, 



Cyprse v a pediculus, Ddnax trunculus ; Helix ericetorum, ianthina, bifasciata; 



Limneus piitris ; Mactra stujtorum, lutraria ; ikfurex antiquus, Mya mar- 



faritifera, Jlfytilus incurvatus ; JVerita Canrena, littoralis ; Pecten varius ; 

 *atella la3 v vis, fissura, gra3 N ca ; Sdlen vespertinus, Strombus pes-Pelecani ; 

 aTellina tenuis, donacina, depressa, radula, solidula; Trochus Magus, crassus, 

 cinereus, umbilicatus, zizlphinus ; Turbo rudis, clathrus, terebra ; Venus 

 verrucosa, fasciata, gallina, decussata, pullistra, aurea, sinuosa, 



Art. III. On the Quinary, or Natural, System of M'Leay, 

 Swainson, Vigors, 8$c. By' Peter Rylands, Esq. 



No. I, 

 " There can," says Baron Cuvier, " be but one perfect 

 method, which is the natural method. We thus name an 

 arrangement in which beings of the same genus are placed 

 nearer to each other than those of the other genera ; the 

 genera of the same order nearer than those of other orders, 

 and so on. This method is the ideal to which natural history 

 should tend ; for it is evident, that, if we can reach it, we shall 

 have the exact and complete expression of all nature. In 

 fact, each being is determined by its resemblance to others, 

 and difference from them ; and all these relations would be 

 given in the arrangement in question. In a word, the natural 

 method would be the whole science, and every step towards 

 it tends to advance the science to perfection." No wonder, 

 then, that most naturalists have spent a considerable portion 

 of their time and talents, in attempts to discover this method, 

 "the only one of nature;" and, consequently, that systems 

 designated " natural " are extremely numerous. None, how- 

 ever, have been so particularly brought before the public, and 

 emphatically styled the natural system, as the one under our 

 consideration. If it is truly the long wished for natural 

 system, then is the most important and beneficial advance 

 which can be made in natural history attained ; but if, on the 

 contrary, though bearing the appellation of " the natural" it is 

 found to be nothing more than an artificial method, every 

 effort ought to be made, as early as possible, in order to over- 



