SECT. II. TAXONOMY AND PHYTOGRAPHY. 145 



by itself (see art. 97-) ; and an artificial class (Diadel- 

 phia) has been constructed to admit all flowers which 

 have their stamens united into two bundles. Now, there 

 are a few genera of the Papilionaceae, where the union 

 of the ten filaments is complete; and these therefore 

 strictly belong to another artificial class (Monadelphia), 

 characterised by this circumstance. But in this case 

 the natural affinity is so striking, that the artificial 

 arrangement is broken through, and they are all classed 

 together. We shall presently explain how the diffi- 

 culty of such a false position is, to a certain extent, 

 obviated. (Art. 1 38. bis.} 



An artificial system which should disregard the con- 

 struction of genera, and group species according to 

 the principles of that system, would be the most per- 

 fect ; but this would be descending to a degree of 

 precision unnecessary for obtaining the sole purpose for 

 which an artificial system should be employed, viz. 

 the detection of the name of a plant ; and the devices 

 adopted for referring the anomalous species to their 

 proper genus, and the anomalous genera to their pro- 

 per class, are sufficient to counteract the smaller in- 

 convenience of establishing >a system at variance with 

 these few cases. 



(137-) Linneean System. The most celebrated of 

 the several artificial systems which have been proposed, 

 is that which Linnaeus established, from considerations 

 deduced from the number and disposition of the sta- 

 mens and pistils ; these organs maintaining a greater 

 general resemblance in all the species of the same 

 genus, and through many genera of the same natural 

 group, than any others. They are at the same time 

 sufficiently modified in different groups, to allow of 

 these being thrown into several orders and classes, cha- 

 racterised by some definite and striking peculiarity. 

 This system has been styled the sexual system, In 

 his arrangement, Linnaeus established twenty-four 

 classes ; the last of which embraces the whole of 

 the natural class of Acotyledones, or flowerless plants. 



