92 REVIEW. [March, 



are at the very threshold of every system ? Are botanists unani- 

 mous in their definition and descriptions of species? Will any 

 botanist tell us which is the typical species in the genus Rubus, 

 in the genus Saliw, in the genus Hieracium, or even in the genus 

 Potentilla ? 



Which is the typical genus of the order Primulacece ? Is it 

 Primula or Lysimachia or Anagallis ? What individual do 

 systematists select as the type or representative of species ? Our 

 teachers tell us that the written character of a species is not that 

 of an individual. Would a description drawn up from a thousand 

 distinct individuals of the same species be a proper character of 

 that species? These are troublesome questions, and those who 

 ask them are in some danger of being called troublesome im,per- 

 tinents. '^ They sit at their firesides, and presume to judge of 

 things done in the Capitol," as Coriolanus said of the factious 

 Romans. Factious botanists will not be content blindly to follow 

 the leaders; they Avill ask inconvenient questions, questions as 

 often blinked as answered. 



We do not harbour the slightest suspicion that Dr. Agardh 

 is not fully alive to the difficulty of the subject. The whole 

 matter may be quite clear to him. But is it equally so to his 

 readers ? 



Another question may be asked, simple and easy enough to 

 those who have made the affinities and analogies of plants their 

 study, though the matter is not equally clear to the less learned 

 portion of the scientific brotherhood. Is the type the highest 

 form of the group of which it is typical ; is it the example of the 

 highest organization and of the utmost development of all the 

 plants in the group which it represents ? Or is it, for example, 

 a real plant in the higher groups, genera and orders? Or is 

 it an ideal object uniting in itself all the qualities of the species 

 and genera it professes to represent? Again, are the groups 

 lineal or circular? Are the individuals, species, genera, etc., 

 arranged around this type like matter round a section of a 

 sphere, the plants of the highest form occupying the centre, and 

 the lowest the circumference, the intermediate the space between 

 the circumference and the centre ? Or, again, is the series lineal, 

 and does the typical plant take the lead ? In either case it is 

 not very clear where the new plants continually turning up are 

 to be put. 



