256 



RUE -LEAVED SPLEEN WOBT. 



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that 



The fronds from which the outlines 

 in the margin were sketched, led me 

 to suppose that Asplenium germani- 

 cum was but a form of A. Euta-mura- 

 ria. Mr. Wilson tells me that this 

 conclusion was drawn too hastily, and 

 I gladly yield to so high an authority, 

 the more especially as Mr. Wilson's 

 opinion seems in unison with that ex- 

 pressed by nearly all the continental 

 // ^i^^B botanists. Truth should be the only 



object of the naturalist ; and when, in 

 diligently seeking it with perfect sin- 

 gleness of purpose, his own judgment 

 proves an insufficient guide, it seems 

 but reasonable that he should avail 

 himself of the assistance kindly offered 

 him by others, whose opportunities of 

 observation have been more extended, 

 and whose abiUty to arrive at a just 

 conclusion is greater than his own. 

 The pleasure an author may be sup- 

 posed to feel in making the catalogue 

 of his country's productions as full as 

 possible, has also perhaps some little 

 weight ; but I am so fuUy aware that 

 this propensity becomes dangerous 

 when injudiciously indulged, that I en- 

 deavour as much as possible to resist 

 its influence. The question of the 

 exact value of diiferences has hitherto 

 scarcely obtained sufficiently careful 

 attention ; but I doubt not the time 

 %^ will arrive when we shall be better 

 informed on this important branch of 

 inquiry, and therefore more united on 

 difficult point, the determination of the limits of species. 



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