S6 Dr. GoODENOUGH and Mr. Woodward'j Obfervations on 



fays, FruSiificatio, P roles frondium deciduct *. In his divifion penicilliferi, 

 of which Gdertnera, Mr. Hudfon's pedunculaius as we fuppofe, ftands 

 as the pattern and authority, he makes the growth of a Uttle green 

 Conferva upon the tubercles to be the dcfcription of the divifion : we 

 have feen fpecimens quite free from it. Obfervations of the fame 

 fort might be made upon the others ; but one thing alone precludes 

 all acceptation of his method ; which is, that he admits plants into 

 thefe very nice difcriminations of divifion eftablillied by the fruftifi- 

 cation, of whofe fruftification he profefTcs himfelf entirely ignorant. 

 Laftly, he has not given any fpecific charadters; which makes the 

 inveftigation extremely laborious. 



His defcriptions in general are very faithfully attended to, but 

 his fynonyms are feldom to be depended upon. He was not affured 

 even of the Linnxan fpecies, as may be proved, among many other 

 inftances, from his miftaking F. cerawAdes. It is a work however 

 of great merit, and abfolutely neceflTary to every one who 

 would wi(h to ftudy the fubje£t. We trufl our marking thefe de- 



* GmcHn, obferving in fome of our plants of the divifion Fronde plana a%>ciiin, a pro- 

 liferous tendency, and taking it for granted, that thofe plants produced no feeds becaufe 

 he had obferved none, but that the fole mode of propagation confided in thefe rudi- 

 ments of plants falling off, attaching themfelves to other bodies, and thus becoming new 

 plants, becaufe he had feen a probability of this procefs in fome ; at once raihly adopted 

 Adanfon's unphilofophical idea, that fome plants were unifexual, that is, produced 

 flowers of one fex (female) only (fuch are all the Fud which bear tubercles) ; and that 

 the others were nfexual, that is, were merely proliferous, and had no flowers at all of either 

 fex : — ideas and terms, though followed by the great names of Gmelin and Gaertner, 

 yet in our judgment quite unworthy of any thing that deferves the name of philofophy. 



Since writing our preface, we have feen Major Velley's elegant and ingenious publi- 

 cation on marine plants ; where, among a variety of curious obfervations, he very pro- 

 perly cxpofcs the futility of Gaertner's remarks upon the fruflification of Conjerva ; an 

 idea whi-h we Iiope to be able to purfuc when we treat of that genus, 



5 fciSls 



