148 STUDIES OF NATURE, 



nion, however, may be oppofed, the flowers of 

 the pelorum, and of the linarium, which he found 

 united on the fame individual. Had it been the 

 fecundation which transformed this plant, it ought 

 to have given fimilar flowers in the whole indi- 

 vidual. Befides, he himfelf has obferved, that 

 there was not the flighted confufion in the other 

 parts of the pelorum, any more than in it's vir- 

 tues ; but this muft have been the cafe, as well as 

 in the flower, had it been produced by a mixture 

 of fome flrange breed. Finally, the pelorum re- 

 produced itfelf by feed, which does not take place 

 in any one mongrel fpecies of animals. 



This fterility, in mongrel branches, is an effect 

 of the fage confiftency of Nature, who cuts off di- 

 vergent generations, in order to prevent the pri- 

 mordial fpecies from being confounded, and from, 

 at length, difappearing altogether. As to the reft, 

 I pry neither into the caufes, nor the means, which 

 fhe is pleafed to conceal from me, becaufe they 

 far tranfcend my comprehenfion. I confine my 

 enquiries to the ends which fhe kindly unfolds ; 

 1 confirm myfelf in the belief, from the variety of 

 flowers in the fame fpecies, and fometimes in the 

 fame individual, that they ferve, in certain cafes, 

 as reflectors to vegetables, for the purpofe of col- 

 lecting, conformably to their pofition, the rays of 



the 



