X EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES, 



VOLATILE GRAINS. PLATE IV. 



Volume III. Page 170. 



HERE is prefented, on the one hand, the fpartha, of 

 rufh of the Spanilh mountains, hollowed into a gutter, for 

 the purpofe of receiving the rain water ; and, on the other, 

 the cylindric or full rufh of the marines. The grain of 

 this laft refembles, in it's ftate of expanfion, the eggs of a 

 lobfler. I have not been able to procure any of the grains 

 of the fpartha ; but I have no. doubt that, in oppofition to 

 thofe of the rufh of the marfhes, it mufl have a volatile cha- 

 racter. I do not fo much as know whether the fpartha 

 fructifies in our climate. MefTrs. Thouln y the principal 

 gardeners of the Royal Garden at Paris, could eafily have 

 gratified my curiofity in this refpect. To thefe gentlemen 

 I ftand indebted for furnifhing me with mod of the grains 

 and leaves which I have got engraved for this Work, 

 among others the cone of the cedar of Lebanon ; but accuf- 

 tomed, in my folitary ftudies, to inveftigate, in Nature 

 alone, the folulion of the difficulties which fhe throws in 

 my way, I did not make application to them, though their 

 hearts are replete with liberality and complaifance, toward 

 the ignorant as well as to the learned. 



Whatever the cafe may be as to this, it is to the fruit 

 that Nature attaches the character of volatility ; and it is by 

 the leaf that fhe indicates the nature of the fite in which 

 the vegetable is deftined to grow. Accordingly we perceive, 

 in this plate, the cone of the cedar to be compofed of thin 



flakes 



