994 



The above imperfect attempt to establish a correspondence between 

 the groupings of the two kingdoms, claims no merit on the ground of 

 originality ; its materials are drawn from a work of which British bo- 

 tanists may well be proud, and the idea of arrangement is borrowed 

 from Mr. Newman's ' System of Nature.' The unforced coincidences 

 between the two kingdoms, are, to say the least, most curious, and can 

 scarcely be the effect of chance ; but the idea requires to be more 

 elaborately worked out in its minor details, before the proposed 

 arrangement can be placed upon a firm footing. This elaboration, 

 even should it prove the fallacy of the idea, will doubtless amply re- 

 ward the inquirer by the discovery of numerous unexpected affinities 

 and hidden combinations which will prove of value in future investi- 

 gations. 



This digression has led us far away from the professed object of our 

 notice, and from another particular connected therewith, to wit, Mr. 

 Steele's division of his perigynous and hypogynous Exogens into what 

 he terms Synpetalae and Apopetalse ; the former comprising the mono- 

 petalous plants of other botanists, the latter both the polypetalous and 

 apetalous. In accordance with the principle quoted at p. 990, he 

 assigns to the Synpetalaj a higher position than the ApopetalaB ; but 

 this is opposed to the views of the soundest botanists, by whom a plant 

 is justly considered to be so much the more elevated in the order of 

 development, in proportion as it exhibits fewer suppressions and com- 

 binations of parts, and more numerous multiplications : and further, 

 in the words of Dr. Lindley, " Whatever points of structure are variable 

 in the same species, or in species nearly allied to each other, or in 

 neighbouring genera, are unessential to the vital functions, and should 

 be set aside, or be regarded as of comparative unimportance. Hence 

 the badness of the Monopetalous, Polypetalous, and Apetalous divi- 

 sions of Jussieu, depending upon the mere presence or absence, and 

 union or disunion, of petals. The genus Fuchsia, for example, has 

 petals highly developed ; but in F. excorticata they are absent, and 

 yet the plant differs no otherwise from the rest of the genus : the same 

 is true of species of Rhamnus. Again, the rue has the petals se- 

 parate ; and Correa, very nearly allied to it, has them combined." — 

 V. K.J Introduction, xxviii. 



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