XIV FLORA OF JERSEY. 



There are thus eight main grades: Division, Sub- division, Class, 

 Series, Family, Tribe, Genus, Species, and the various members 

 in each grade are to be regarded as roughly on a level vpith one 

 another. For instance, the Class " Perns," or the Class 

 " Lycopods,'' are to be equated, not with the various Families 

 of the Phanerogams, but vs'ith the whole Class " Monocotyledons " 

 or "Dicotyledons." 



An attempt is also made to keep the terminations of the various 

 grades as far as possible the same. The Series mostly end in 

 — ales, the Families in — acece, the Sub-families in — ideis, the 

 Tribes in — ece, the Sub-tribes in — incB. 



The general principle underlying the whole arrangement is the 

 representation of a gradual ascent from the less completely to 

 the more completely organised, from lower to higher types. The 

 Compositae are regarded as the highest type, as exhibiting in the 

 fiower-head characteristic of the genus, the most complete instance 

 of the subordination of the individual flowers to the benefit of the 

 whole. The adoption of this principle naturally involves a complete 

 change in the order of succession of the Families. 



It is generally recognised at the present time that no "linear" 

 arrangenrent can truly represent the infinitely complicated relations 

 between organisms which have been produced by the operation of 

 the law of " Descent with Modification." There is no such thing 

 as an unbroken succession of forms, and many groups lie quite 

 oS the line of normal development. But some systematic arrange- 

 ment is a scientific necessity, and we are not yet in a position to 

 construct a complete genealogical tree of the vegetable kingdom. 

 At the same time there is no doubt that it is roughly true that a 

 gradual ascent from the lower to the higher forms can be 

 confidently traced. 



It may be asked, What security have we that Engler's system 

 is final, any more than that of Jussieu '? No one supposes that 

 it is final, but if the first explorers of a mountain-peak had 

 refused to advance until they could see their way clear to the 

 top, how many of the Alps or of the Andes would have been 

 ascended ? 



Into vexed questions of nomenclature I have had neither time 

 nor inclination to enter. The generic names are those of the 

 " Pflanzenfamilien.'' The general tendency of the nomenclature 

 is conservative, and will be very welcome to those botanists who 



