VARIETIES. 



473 



leaves, corollae, and seeds. Nor should the species of Scorpiu- 

 rus and Medicago here instanced be either of them parted, al- 

 though there is so remarkable a diversity in the fruit of the indi- 

 viduals. In the Medicago* in particular, the forms of the real 

 snails, which nature has imitated in these plants, are scarce more 

 diversified than is the fruit of this mimic species ; so that the 

 botanist, who is studious of varieties, would hardly find any end 

 to his labour, of pursuing nature through the various shapes 

 which she has so sportively adopted. 



The whole order of the Fungi, to the scandal of the science, 

 is still a chaos, the botanists not being yet able, in these, to de- 

 cide with certainty what is a species, and what a variety f. 



* Medicago scutellata, 

 orbiculata, 

 echinata, 

 turbinate, 

 coronate, 

 doliata, 

 ciliaris, 

 tornata, 



Medicago hirsute, 

 lupulina, 



rugosa, 

 polycarpos, 

 dicarpos, 

 Arabiaca, 



Cretica. 



Author. 



f Much, however, is expected in this department, from the ingenious labours of 

 the President of the Linnsean Society, Dr. Smith. Editor. 



