Mr D. Don on the Characters qfDarzvinia, ^c. 83 



conclusions which he draws, all the principles which he endea- 

 vours to establish, can be viewed only as con&equences of the 

 facts observed^ and that all hypothesis is interdicted. If some- 

 times the want of a sufficient number of data prevents him arri- 

 ving at a rigorous solution, and analogy and induction lead him 

 to an inference, he must be careful not to exhibit it with a rea- 

 lity which it does not possess, or to make it one of the founda- 

 tions of his doctrine. In rearing the edifice of science, the only 

 means he is permitted to employ are observation, the principles 

 of sound physics, and the rules of strict logic. 



Observations on the Characters and Affinities of Darwinia, 

 Brunsfelsia, Browallia, Argylia, Eccremocaj-pus, and of' a 

 Plant improperly referred to the latter genus. By Mr David 

 Don, Librarian of the Linnean Society, Member of the 

 Imperial Academy Naturae Curiosorum, of the Royal Bota- 

 nical Society of Ratisbon, and of the Wernerian Society of 

 Edinburgh, &c. Communicated by the Author. 



DARWINIA. 



JL HIS genus was first proposed by Mr Rudge, in the eleventh 

 volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, where a de- 

 scription and figure of the then only known species, D.Jascicu- 

 laris, is given ; but both being probably taken from an imper- 

 fect specimen, the structure of the ovarium was left undeter- 

 mined ; which circumstance may sufficiently account for its not 

 having been referred to its proper place in the Natural System. 

 Mr Allan Cunningham, probably misled by the analogous re- 

 semblance in habit of Darwinia to Cryptandra, has referred it to 

 the Rhamnece, with which it certainly has no affinity whatever. 

 The examination of a series of specimens, both with flowers and 

 perfect fruit, has convinced me that its true place in the system 

 is among the Myrtacece, next to Calythrix, with which it agrees 

 in almost every particular, except in the absence of petals. This 

 intimate affinity would not have escaped so experienced an ob- 

 server as M. Decandolle, had he possessed similar facilities of ex- 

 amination, while engaged in preparing the third volume of his 



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