58 NATURAL CLASSES. 



THE NATURAL CLASSES, 

 Rectified 1835. 



During 20 years from 1815 to 1835, I have 

 continiiecl to rectify my Natural Classes. The 

 later improvers differ yet widely on their num- 

 ber and serial Order. Many appear prone to 

 acknowledge only 3, Exogenes, Endogenes and 

 Acotyles. This is as preposterous as if we 

 made only 3 classes of animals, Bony, Unbony 

 and Anemates, uniting MammaHa, Birds, Rep- 

 tiles and Fishes into the first ; altho' others in- 

 cline to separate even the Mammalia into 3, 

 Primates, Quadrupeds and Cetacians, and also 

 the Reptiles into 3, Saurians or Lizards and 

 Turtles, Ophidians or Snakes, and Batracians 

 or Frogs and Salamanders, 



However Agardh in his later works wishes to 

 amplify too much the Natural Classes of Plants, 

 having made 25 of them, and increased the Or- 

 ders or rather the families to about 200. 



The rapid increase of botanical knowledge, 

 and the immense materials yearly added, ap- 

 pear to require an addition of Classes which 

 altho' necessarily taken off from others, become 

 better distinguished by insulation or separation. 

 My first Natural CJass was so numerous in Or- 

 ders, and with so many natural anomalies that 

 it may very conveniently be divided. It answer- 

 ed nearly to the Thalamifiores of Lamark and 

 Decandole, a bad name being mongrel half 

 Greek and half Latin. The Leguminose are 

 so anomalous and numerous as to deserve prob- 

 ably to become a peculiar Class, instead of an 

 Order, or be united to Symphandria. The first 

 Orders distinguished by a plurality of pistils 

 would be a natural Class if the Genera Consoi. 



