88 EE VIEWS. 



the " Archives " which contain that model one on the J/al- 

 'pKjhiacece of his hiniented botanical master. It illustrates in 

 detail about 470 species, under 40 genera, and is accompanied 

 by twenty well-filled plates, drawn by the author. It opens 

 with a conspectus of the members of the great group to which 

 the true Urticacece belong (which the author inclines to receive 

 rather as the orders of a class than as suborders of an exten- 

 sive order, fully admitting, however, their close affinity inter 

 se), followed by a brief indication of the principal investiga- 

 tors of these plants, and of the resources at his own command. 

 A general account of the organs of vegetation and rej)roduc- 

 tion, of the affinities, and the geographical distribution of the 

 plants of the group, and of their properties and uses, conclude 

 the preliminary matter. The body of the work is occupied 

 by their systematic arrangement and description. 



Apetulce being viewed as degenerations of Polypetalw, our 

 author searches among the latter orders for the nearest rela- 

 tives of the great Urticaceous order of alliance, and finds 

 them in the Tiliacecc, that is, in the group of orders of which 

 the JIalvacece are the highest development. According to 

 WeddeU's happy illustration, Malvacece crown the summit of 

 a three-sided pyramid, with StercuHacece, Bi/ttnernacece, and 

 Tilkicece just below them, one upon each face ; under the 

 ByttneriacecB he ranks the Euphorh'iacece, with the Antldes- 

 mecp, and under these, at the very base of the pyramid, the 

 fScepacece, the lowest degradation in this direction of the Mal- 

 vaceous type. On the adjacent face, under the Tiliacece^ and 

 on the same level with the jEiijihorhiacece, he inscribes the 

 Urticacece, with the Cupuliferm perhaps underneath them. 

 Upon this ingenious plan of representation, the apetalous 

 orders throughout may be most conveniently and instructively 

 ranked under their superior types ; — bearing in mind that 

 some types degrade as much within an order (c. </., Eiiphor- 

 biacece, Onac/racece inclusive of Ilaloragca', Caryoj^hyUacecB 

 including lllecehrecG)^ as others do through a series of two or 

 three orders, or even as the same group does (e. g., Cari/o- 

 phyllaceoi) through a series of orders on the other side of the 

 pyramid. 



