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serted, that certain assemblages of species, of plants as 

 well as animals, agreeing in their appropriate characters 

 and qualities, are as much founded in nature as the 

 species themselves. These are called genera, or fami- 

 lies of plants. Each is marked by an assemblage of 

 natural characters, in which our idea of such genus is 

 founded ; while it is distinguished from all others by 

 some essential character. A few familiar examples will 

 explain this. In the animal kingdom the great tribe of 

 Monkeys forms a natural genus or assemblage of species, 

 which no one will dispute. The Lion, Tiger, Leopard, Cat, 

 and many more, constitute another, whose rough tongue 

 and retractile claws exhibit an essential character, that 

 confirms their other peculiarities and common habits. 

 Parrots, also, happily termed " the monkeys of birds," 

 are no less similar to each other than different from the 

 rest of their tribe. In plants, the genus Rosa, under all 

 the elegant differences of its species and their several va- 

 rieties, is no less well marked. You will find its indis- 

 putable characters in every botanical book. The valuable 

 genus Quercus, the Oak, known by the acorn and its scaly 

 cup; the very curious and extensive genus Ficus, the Fig, 

 so peculiarly distinguished by the concealment of its 

 flowers in a cell or bag, which afterwards becomes the 

 fruit ; are both no less obviously defined by the hand of 

 nature than a dog and a horse. 



But there are other natural assemblages not less evi- 

 dent than natural genera. 



These are termed natural orders. 



The Rose, the Bramble, the Strawberry, and the Cinque- 

 foil, have numerous characters, as well as properties, in 

 common, which stamp them all together as a natural 

 order ; while each is marked by a peculiarity in its fruit, 

 not unattended by other differences, by which its indi- 

 vidual generic distinction is just as clearly defined. So 

 beasts of prey and birds of prey, properly so called, are 

 known to everybody as natural tribes, consisting of several 



