28 INTRODUCTORY. PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



as many other species. Both these genera, along with 

 many others, belong to one family, the Rosacece, or 

 Rose family, because they have certain characters of 

 the flower and fruit in common. The hare is Lepus 

 timidus, the rabbit Lepus caniculus : the dog, the 

 European wolf and the fox respectively, Canisfamiliaris, 

 C. lupus, and C. vulpes. In the last two cases it will 

 be seen that the specific name is a noun (the Latin 

 name of the animal in question), though it is used in 

 place of an adjective. Very many species, of course, 

 have no common names in any language because they 

 have not impressed their existence on man by their 

 usefulness or harmfulness, or conspicuousness they 

 have not attracted his attention in any way, until 

 botanists and zoologists began to study the different 

 forms for their own sakes. The Latin nomenclature 

 has the indispensable advantage of being international. 

 It is in fact a relic of the time when Latin was the 

 universal language of learned men. 



Genera, as has been said, are grouped into families, 

 families into orders, orders into still larger groups, 

 each successively higher grade of groupings containing 

 forms which are less and less like those belonging to 

 other groupings of the same grade. 



Range of Form and Structure in the Plant World. 

 Starting with the higher forms, including the trees, 

 shrubs and herbs with which we are most familiar, 

 the following are the larger groups of plants : 



(i) The SEED PLANTS (SPERMOPHYTES), including 

 (i) the Angiosperms, or true Flowering Plants, which 

 produce seeds completely enclosed in bag- or box-like 

 structures, and comprise nearly all the herbs, grasses, 

 etc., and the shrubs and broad-leaved trees, and (ii) 

 the Gymnosperms, with seeds not so enclosed, but 



