CRL'GER ox EPIGYNOUS MONOCOTYLEDONS. 155 



ARTICLE VI. 



Organographical Observations on certain Epigynous Monocoty- 

 ledons. By H. GROCER, of Trinidad. 



[From the Linnaa, vol. xxii. 1849.] 



1 HE development of the natural sciences from the time when 

 they first began to merit the name, may be divided into two 

 principal periods, according to the directions taken by research. 

 In the first, the object was the distinction of natural bodies from 

 each other, and the formation of what is called the systematic 

 part of science. After a body of facts had been brought to- 

 gether, inquirers, acquainted with distinctions, began to seek for 

 analogies, and thus more philosophical views respecting the 

 kingdoms of nature came gradually into existence. The Arti- 

 ficial Systems date from the first epoch, the Natural Methods 

 from the second. While the aim of systematic science is divi- 

 sion, that which searches for analogies endeavours to combine, 

 partly to facilitate the comprehension of the whole, partly in 

 order to discover the laws prescribed for the formation of bodies. 

 Both branches of science are immeasurable, and a lifetime is 

 insufficient for a tolerable mastering of only one of them. 



One of the difficulties which especially oppose the acquire- 

 ment of an accurate knowledge of plants, is the circumstance 

 that certain parts of the globe possess peculiar forms which can 

 be obtained only at great cost and with much trouble in distant 

 zones. And here it is that descriptive botany has far outstripped 

 the branch to which this essay is devoted, although it cannot be 

 denied that much has already been done in this. Since I have 

 command here in Trinidad of abundance of material for the in- 

 vestigation of tropical plants, I may perhaps be permitted to 

 contribute the following, towards filling up a gap in special 

 botany. 



The group of Monocotyledonea epigynae, comprising the Sci- 

 tamineae, Musaceae and Orchideae, is distinguished by certain 

 common characters from the other families of this division of 



