Progress of Foreign Science. 1 63 



worlds, we find in general in the new, under the equatoreal 

 zone, fewer cvperacece and rubiacecB, and more of the composiia ; 

 under the temperate zone, fewer joncacece, labiatcB; umbelUfercB, 

 and cruciform, and more coinpositce, ericinece, and amentacecB, 

 than in the corresponding zones of the ancient world. The 

 families which augment from the equator towards the pole, 

 (according to the tnethod offractmis,) are the glumacece, the 

 ericinece, and the arnentacecB ; the families which diminish from 

 the pole towards the equator are, the leguminous, the rubiaccce, 

 the eiiphorbiacecE, and the malvacecB ; the families which seem 

 to attain the maximum under the temperate zone, are the com- 

 posite, the labiafed, the umbellifercE, and the cruciform. 



To the tabular view of quotients or fractions, which indicates 

 the relations of every family to the entire mass of the phanero- 

 gamous plants, might be added a table, in which would be com- 

 pared together the absolute numbers of the species. The fol- 

 lowing is a fragment which embraces only the temperate and 

 the frozen zone ; 



France. North America. Lapland. 



On examining in detail what we already know on the ratio 

 of the monocotyledonous to the dicotyledonous, we observe 

 that the denominator becomes progressively smaller, (and with 

 the greatest regularity,) in going from the equator towards the 

 62° of north latitude ; it augments, perhaps, anew in regions 

 still more northerly on the coast of Greenland, where the gra- 

 mineae appear very rare. The ratio varies from l-5th to l-8th 

 in the different parts of the tropics. According to Mr. Brown, 

 this ratio is every where l-5th in the ancient continent, (in 

 India, in equinoctial Africa, and in New Holland). Under the 

 temperate zone we find that the monocotyledonous are to the 

 bicotyledonous. 



In Barbary 



Egypt . . 



Caucasus and the Crimea 



Kingdom of Naples 



State of Venice 



France 



Germany 



Switzerland 



M 2 



