324 



PAJRKS AND PLEASTJEE-GROTJNDS. 



an instructive exhibition of its position; that is, he 

 puts the order in question in the center, and right and 

 left of it the two orders in main affinity, while two in 

 weaker affinity are placed over and under it at right 

 angles. We have thus a star, composed of a nucleus 

 and four rays, and it is probable that it would be 

 easy, in some cases, to multiply the rays considerably. 

 Something of this kind ought to be adopted on the 

 ground ; but it is not difficult to perceive that the stellar 

 arrangement, if attempted to be strictly carried out in 

 practice, would lead to great complication of figure, and, 

 from the interlacing of affinities, might produce inextri- 

 cable confusion. The orders, then, must be formed 

 into minor groups or masses of varying form and size, 

 according to their extent — some genera will require a 

 considerable group for themselves — and these subor- 

 dinate members must be combined and coordinated 

 in conformity with the principles of the alliance of 

 which they form parts. Only the main relations can 

 be taken into account; and the combination should 

 approach that of a map, according to the old illustra- 

 tion, suggested, we believe, by Linnaeus himself. Let 

 the reader take a colored map of England, and select 

 one of the midland counties — such as Leicestershire — 

 he will find six other counties conterminous with it, 

 and bounding it by frontier lines of varying form and 

 length. Nothing can afford a better image of an order 

 or alliance of orders, in the natural system, as repre- 

 sented on the ground. Of course, when planted, the 

 boundaries of the respective genera or orders must 

 not be in actual contact. They should be separated, 

 not by a dotted line as in maps, not by a narrow grass 

 verge as in some gardens, but by lawns of a sufficient 



