xlvi NATURAL SYSTEMS. [Bbomhead. 



1836. Bromhead, Sir E. French, Bart. 



This author's system first appeared in the Edinburgh Journ. Apr. 1836, and has since 

 been more than once revised to embrace the later discoveries of the science. The last 

 pubhshed re^^sion was in the Mag. Nat. Hist. July, 1 840. The \sTiter proposes to proceed 

 wholly by induction. The families ai-e collected into Alliances, designated by a ter- 

 mination in ales, from some characteristic or well-known family contained in the assem- 

 blage. Each family is placed in that AlUance in which it may meet the greatest number 

 of iamilies of admitted affinity to it, the character being subsequently deduced from the 

 assemblage so constituted, and used as a test of admissibihty in the more doubtful cases. 



See Mag. Nat. Hist. April, 1 838. A sketch of characters for the whole series of 



Alliances as they stood in 1838 appeared in the Edinb. Phil. Journ. April and Jidy of 

 that year. He considers it an advantage that above 60 of his Alhances are to be found 

 indicated or adopted vAt\\ more or less accuracy by other Botanists. He has given 

 some of these synonjTns in the Phil. Mag. July, 1837, and m the Mag. Nat Hist. July, 

 1840. The author arranges with great care the contents of each AlUance in the order 

 of the immediate affinities and transitions, and then places each AlUance between the 

 two AUiances into wliich it passes. He considers himself to have thus estabUshed by 

 induction a continuous series of AUiances, commencing ^vith Algals and ending 

 with Fimgals, in which each famUy in a continuous succession stands between the two 

 famiUes of nearest affinity. The system thus resultmg presents the aspect of two 

 paraUel races meeting in the Rhizanths, and presenting in their progress, at equal dis- 

 tances from the commencement, analogous Alliances, such, for instance, as Rosales and 

 Fabales, Boraginales and Lamiales, Geraniales and Rutales, «Scc. In the AlUances, and 

 in the grouping of the AlUances, the system accords with the quinary method ; but to 

 this the author does not bind himself, remarking that quinary combmations very fre- 

 quently occm', and that he has extended them for the sake of convenience, by leaning 

 towards that method in cases -nhere the Umits of famiUes are ambiguous. 



He considers the theory of the cu-culation of organic forms to be confirmed by his 

 method, but does not look on them as closed or re-entering cu'cles. He would rather 

 compare them to the approach of the retm-ning parts of a spiral or to the similarity of 

 the opposite ends of a fusiform figiu'e. 



The subjoined table of his AUiances shows their succession, but the transitions and 

 contents of the AlUances could not be exhibited without giving his tables at length. 



Race of the Alg.e. 



A. — Nostocales. 



B. — Fucales, rhodomelales, ulvales, charales, osmun dales. 



C. — Ephedrales, myricales, ulmales, piperales, haloragales, cenotherales, mjTtales, rosales, saxifragales, 

 cucurbitales, portulacales, chenopodiales, polemoniales, boraginales, solanales, gentianales, apocy- 

 nales, clnchonales, sambucales, coraales, geraniales, cistales, brassicaleSjUymphseales, aristolochiales. 



C. C. — Alismales, restiales, agrostidales, cocoales, typhales. 



C.C.C— Cytinales. 



Race of the Fungi. 



A — Mucorales. 



B. — Auriculariales, lycoperdales, usneales, jungermanniales, lycopodiales. 



C— Cupressales, betulales, rhaninales, euphorbiales, sesculales, hypericales, limoniales, fabales, ^^olales, 

 passiflorales, homaliales, elaagnales, acanthales, lamiales, rhinanthales, ericales, campaniilales, 

 asterales, dipsacales, mjTsinales, rutales, malvales, laurales, magnoliales, menispermales. 



C. C— Asparagales, juncales, orchidales, zingiberales, narcissales. 



C.C.C. -Cytinales. ' 



1836. LiXDLEY, John. — {A Natural System of Botany, <tr., second edition.) 



The arrangement here adopted was nearly the same as that proposed in the Nixxis 

 Plantarum (see p. xU.) An attempt was also made to reform the nomenclature of the 

 Natural System, by making aU the names of divisions of the same value end in the same 

 way. The Orders were disthiguished by ending hi acece, the Sub-orders in ecp, the 

 Alliances in ales, and certain combinations, caUed groups, in oscb. It was conceived 

 that certain advantages and conveniences would attend the estabUshment of uniformity 

 in these matters. Botanists do not, however, appear to be as yet disposed to entertam 

 this opinion, and the terminations have not been generally adopted, in part, no dou])t, 

 because of the difficulty of adapting them to Greek and Latin compounds. 



1836-1840. Endlicher, Stephen. — (^Genera Plantarum secundum ordines naturale 



disposita.) 



Upon this system has been published the most important systematical work that has 



appeared since the Genera Plantarum of Jussieu, m 1789. It commences with plants 



of the simplest kind, and closes with what the author regards as most complicated, viz., 



leguminous plants. It has been executed with great skill, but is too much dependent 



