THE THREE CLASSES. 5 



III. ACOTYLEDONS, (or Cryptogams).* PI. I. C. 



The First Plate will give the distinguishing cha- 

 racters of these three Classes, which, with farther 

 explanation, will enable you to discover, very easily, 

 to which of the three Classes every plant belongs. 



Now examine the open seed-lobes through your 

 lens ; and you will see the little Embryo Plant (as 

 every young seedling is first called) lying between, 

 and forming a part of them. You can readily dis- 

 tinguish Stem, Leaves, and Root, completely formed. 

 PI. I. A I. 



You cannot distinguish the Cotyledon, or Embryo 

 Plant of the Monocotyledons well, until the seeds 

 begin to grow. Sow some of the seeds you have 

 soaked, in a pot of white sand, (from which they can 

 be separated more readily, than from earth, when you 

 wish to examine them). In a few days you will see 

 the one Cotyledon ; and from that will shoot the 

 Embryo Plant, one narrow leaf, and from its 

 sheathing Stem, another will appear : never two 

 leaves at a time, as we find in all Dicotyledons. PI. 

 I. B I. Here you see another distinguishing character 

 in the two Classes ; and we shall see this difference of 

 structure carried out in every part of the Plants. The 



* Or, as often called, Cellulares. PI. I. 



