192 Mr. H. E. Strickland on the Natural System . 



method here proposed, that it is subversive of the arrange- 

 ments now in use. No linear arrangement, whether adopted 

 in a museum, a catalogue, or a descriptive work, ever can ex- 

 press the true succession of affinities: such an arrangement, 

 therefore, is necessarily in great measure artificial, and, if 

 sanctioned by custom, may still be adhered to. The true or- 

 der of affinities can only be exhibited (if at all) by a pictorial 

 representation on a surface, and the time may come when our 

 works on natural history may all be illustrated by a series of 

 maps on the plan of those rude sketches which are here ex- 

 hibited. 



Those symmetrical systems which are here combated are 

 the natural result of that instinctive love of order which is in- 

 nate in man, and which produces all the noblest works of art. 

 It would doubtless have been more convenient for the arrange- 

 ment of our museums, and more agreeable to our love of or- 

 der, if the groups of organized beings had resolved themselves 

 into a symmetrical plan ; but if such is not the case, we must 

 not sacrifice truth to convenience. My object in communi- 

 cating these remarks will be gained if they induce naturalists 

 to study Nature simply as she exists, — to follow her through 

 the wild luxuriance of her ramifications, instead of pruning 

 and distorting the tree of organic affinities into the formal 

 symmetry of a clipped yew-tree. 



It is needless to observe, that although the above remarks 

 have been applied chiefly to the animal kingdom, yet that the 

 principles here announced, if true at all, may be applied with 

 equal correctness to botanical as to zoological systems. 



Appendix. 



In Mr. Swainson's c Classification of Birds/ the Procrus- 

 tean process is effected in five different ways. 1. By trans- 

 ferring the members of redundant groups to fill the blanks in 

 those which are deficient. Examples : Haliaetus is transferred 

 from Aquilinae, and made a subgenus ofAstur; Myophonus is 

 transferred from Merulinae to Myotherinae ; Cinclosoma from 

 Turdidae, and made a subgenus of Grallina ; Irena from Di- 

 crurinae, and made a subgenus of Oriolus; Querulinae from 

 Ampelidae to Muscicapidae ; Coracinae from Ampelidae to Cor- 

 vidae ; Carduelis and Linaria are transferred from Fringillinae 

 to Coccothraustinae ; Scythrops from Cuculidae to Rhamphas- 

 tidae ; Tichodroma from Sittinae to Troglodytinae ; Orthonyx 

 from Crateropodinae (where it comes next Psophodes) to Bu- 

 phaginae ; Hamatopus from Charadriadaa to Ardeadae ; Eury- 

 pyga from Ardeadae to Scolopacidae ; Phaeton from Pelecanida) 

 to Laridae ; and Dromas from Charadriadae to Laridae. 



