ON BOTANICAL GEOGRAPHY. 275 



naeus and that of Jussieu ; the other, the British Flora, 

 very recently published by Dr. Lindley, Professor of Bot- 

 any in the University of London, in which the plants are 

 arranged according to the natural method. You may af- 

 terwards consult works of a more general description 

 which .will carry you still further ; and, when once you 

 are accustomed to investigate the affinities of plants, 

 your eye will enable you to guess, as it were, a grea 4 

 portion of what remains to be learnt. 



Emily. If these affinities are so evident to the eyes of 

 a botanist, whence comes it that they have only been so 

 recently studied ! 



Mrs. B. Botanists have long been acquainted with 

 the affinities of plants growing in great numbers in Eu- 

 rope. Thus, ever since botany has become a science, 

 the Cruciferous, Gramineous, Umbelliferous families, and 

 several others, have been distinguished. But those fam- 

 ilies which are dispersed over every quarter of the globe 

 could not be classed until the analogy of the different 

 plants had been discovered and studied ; and travellers, 

 ignorant of botany, are incapable of recognising the af- 

 finities of plants they have never studied. 



Emily. What an interesting study the comparison of 

 plants of different countries must be ! 



Mrs. B. Undoubtedly it is. This study is called bo- 

 tanical geography ; and, if you wish to acquire some idea 

 of it, we will make it the subject of our next conversation. 



Emily. With the greatest pleasure. 



CONVERSATION XXIV. 



ON BOTANICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Mrs. B. At our last interview I promised to give you 

 some idea of the laws which appear to regulate the dis- 

 tribution of plants on the surface of the globe. 



Caroline. Yes ; this is the study you called Botanical 

 Geography. 



1484. Of the British Floral 1485. What families of plants were 

 first distinguished, I486. What is said of others not so soon known 1 



