104 TAXONO.MV. 



CHAP. IV. 

 ON THE NATURAL ARRANGEMENT IN GENERAL. 



157. 



The solution of the last mentioned problem, tliat, namely, 

 of marking out the connections of families with one another, 

 and of so arranging them with respect to each other as Nature 

 has arranged them, is the object of Method, or the Ideal after 

 which Science is incessantly striving, and to which she has re- 

 cently approached nearer than she ever did before, without 

 having yet perhaps completely reached it. 



To present more distinctly the meaning of this problem, 

 let us think of two nearly related families, for instance, the 

 Musci frondosi and the Musci hepatici. Along with gene- 

 ral correspondences, we find also differences, which must be 

 so marked, that we may perceive which of the two families 

 stands higher or lower, — which of the two shews at once the 

 greatest number of organs, and the greatest perfection in 

 these. Let us next ask further, respecting these families, to 

 Avhat others they stand contiguous. In the foregoing ex- 

 amples, we shall see the Musci frondosi passing into the Ly- 

 copodeae, and bordering on the Ferns ; the Musci hepatici, 

 in several forms, approach the Ilomallophyllae, and through 

 them the Lichens ; the Lichens pass in several shapes into 

 the Funffi, which at last resolve themselves into the most im- 

 perfect of organised bodies, the Coniomijci and Nematomyci. 



158. 

 When we have in this manner denoted the connections of 

 families and their differences, we are frequently led to inter- 

 mediate forms, which still more strongly establish the alliance. 

 Between the Musci frondosi and hepatici is the Aiidreaca ; 

 between the MuaciJYondosi and the Ferns are some species 



