( 7* ) 
down within the corol to prefervc them from 
injury until they are ready for expanfion. In 
this ftate it is curious to obferve the unfold- 
ing of the filaments, if touched flightly with 
a fine needle. It is not eafy, in the flowers of 
the umbel-bearing plants, to find the ftamens 
in a proper ftate for inveftigation ; they alfo 
differ in number, in which cafe the flower, 
which terminates the umbel, is to be examined, 
and, according to the number of ftamens 
contained in that, is to be clafled, The diffi- 
culty of variety in the number of ftamens in 
the fame fpecies too frequently occurs in the 
flowers of the clafs Pentandria, and is a per- 
plexing circumftance to young botanifts ; but 
as nature commonly preferves a certain pro-* 
portion through all the parts of the fame 
work, the clafs to which 3 flower belongs 
may generally be difcovered by attending to 
the numbers of the other parts of fructifica- 
tion. Should a flower be found which has 
it's calyx divided into five parts, and it's corol 
confifting of five petals, though it's ftamens 
fliould exceed qr fall fhort of the number five, 
it may be concluded, that it belongs to the 
fifth clafs : and if a few more flowers of the 
fame fpecies, or even of the fame plant, be 
F 4 examined, 
