tion, he was reduced to assume their existence under one 
shape or other, by analogy drawn from the portion of vege- 
tation where their ,presence was incontrovertible; these he 
has concentred in one great class, designated by the title of 
Cryptogamia, divided into-natural orders or such as are 
characterized from general structure. ,It is since his time 
that the term phenogamous has been devised, and only very 
lately, that. it. has come into familiar use to express. that 
portion of vegetation: where the floral-organs are plain and 
obvious, as. opposed. to. the. cryptogamous. portion, “where 
these are not so. Of still fresher date is the term aga- 
mous, suggested by the‘latest.investigations,.as applicable 
to a group that has hitherto ranked in Cryptogamia, in 
whose species not. only no-traces-of stamen and pistil are 
detected,, but in regard to which the presumption appears to 
be.stronger: (at least inthe. opinion.of. those who have pro- 
posed the distinction) that_ there are none- belonging: to 
them ; of this nature are Mushrooms, Liverworts, &c. &c. 
of two kinds;.and by not being furnished with any sort of 
inyolucre (except where, as is sometimes the case, small 
scales or bristles mingle themselyes among the capsules). 
The species is native of the coast of Guinea, Java, and New 
Holland; at least botanists have not yet distinguished be- 
tween the plants peculiar to either of those mutually distant 
countries. ‘The drawing was made from the New Holland 
plant, introduced by Mr. Caley in 1808, with which we 
were kindly furnished by Mr. Aiton, by whom it is con- 
sidered as belonging to the greenhouse. In its native re- 
