MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 383 



the parts of fructification, the class or order of a 

 plant could not be determined. Hence arose a cry 

 for a natural classification, which, indicated by Ray, 

 and acknowledged by Linnseus, was first given to 

 the world in a detailed form by Antoine Laurent de 

 Jussieu, in 1 789. His system has since been variously 

 modified by different writers, of whom the most 

 recent is Lindley, whose views are here chiefly 

 followed. We have restored to the " orders " of the 

 last named writer, their original designation of 

 families, while his " alliances " are our orders, as it 

 only, we believe, tends to confuse when we find 

 phytological and zoological groups of equal value 

 differing in their mode of nomenclature. In other 

 respects, however, we have adopted nearly through- 

 out, the uniform system of termonology employed in 

 the last edition of the " Vegetable Kingdom." 



Scarcely any branch can be more universally 

 attended to by the travelling naturalist than that 

 of Phytology. Wherever he bends his way he will 

 almost certainly discover, in some form or another, 

 vegetable existences. Water and land alike teem 

 with herbaceous productions, the former being either 

 marine or fresh-water. Among the latter will be 

 found numerous aquatic species, both floating and 

 submerged, while the scum on the surface of ponds 

 and stagnant pools, will under the microscope, ex- 

 hibit various primitive forms of vegetable life. On 

 the sea-shores, and extending thence outwards to 

 various depths, will be seen numerous varieties of 

 marine Algce, and away from the land, often in the 



