id) Dichotomari^ Tremella, Globulin^ &c. Seve- 

 ral organized bodies, as Oscillatoria, Conferva, and Mo- 

 nadesy which have neither roots, nor capillary vessels, nor 

 a digestive stomach, nor other distinct organs of plants or 

 animals, connect the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms by 

 imperceptible gradations. Many Plants, as the Cistus he- 

 lianthemum, Hedysarum gyrans, Mimosa pudica, and Ber- 

 beris vulgaris, exhibit motions similar to those which we 

 ascribe to irritability in animals. The study of the al- 

 most mechanical functions of plants, enables us better to 

 comprehend the mechanism of the complicated functions 

 of animals. An acquaintance with the species and history 

 of Plants is indispensable to the Entomologist, and is ne- 

 cessary to the successful study of Ornithology. It ex- 

 plains to us many of the most remarkable habits of insects, 

 and the reasons of the periodical flight of migratory birds 

 over vast tracts of the ocean. When we consider, in- 

 deed, the importance of a knowledge of Plants in the do - 

 mestication of useful animals, in the rearing of foreign and 

 domestic species, and in illustrating the history and eco- 

 nomy of most animals, we find that an acquaintance with 

 the Vegetable Kingdom is calculated to facilitate the path 

 of the Zoologist in every department of his investigations. 



In the infancy of Botany it was pursued only by medi- 

 cal men, and with a view to the medicinal virtues of plants. 

 The numerous useful applications and the extended rela- 

 tions of the science, however, in modern times, have raised 

 this interesting study to a high rank in the scale of human 

 knowledge ; and by the zeal and industry of its cultivators 

 in all parts of the earth, nearly seventy thousand species of 

 Plants have been discovered and characterised. The study 

 of the Vegetable Kingdom is an inexhaustible source of 

 innocent and rational recreation, has given rise to many of 

 the most brilliant and useful productions of human genius, 

 and has long been an independent branch of academical 

 instruction in most of the Universities of Europe. 



Although the study of the Animal Kingdom has not 



