INTRODUCTION. xix 
cient to constitute a species, that it can be distin- 
guished, perhaps readily, by the experienced eye of a 
cultivator, from all other Roses; for if this were the 
case, most of the numerous varieties of the Apple, the 
Pear and the Plum which the practised gardener finds 
no difficulty in recognising, would have an equally 
just claim to specific distinction. A second source of 
confusion originated with Linnzus himself, when he 
divided the species into two divisions, distinguishing 
them by their ovate and round fruit. A more variable 
character than this could scarcely have been fixed upon, 
and yet it has been adopted with a few exceptions, by 
_ the greater part of his followers. In some instances 
attempts have been made to alter this arrangement; 
but as the plans proposed instead have been scarcely 
better than Linnzeus’s, they have met with little atten- 
tion. So that in the most recent complete account of 
the genus which has hitherto appeared, from the pen 
of Sir James Smith in Rees’s Cyclopedia, the old 
mode of division is adhered to. 
Mr. Woods was the first who effectually broke 
through the prejudices in favour of this; and in an ex- 
cellent memoir on the Roses of Great Britain, arranged 
and defined them according to a method of his own. 
However much we may be at variance about the limits 
of species, there can be little or no difference of opi- 
nion between us respecting his primary divisions, be- 
cause ‘they are natural. Many important characters 
were first noticed by him; among which the distinc- 
tion between setze and prickles more particularly de- 
serves to be noticed. It is with pleasure that I ac- 
knowledge the advantages I have derived from this 
method. And to show the great importance I attach 
c2 
