cording to their number. In general we count to six, and then say, polygynia. If there should be several germens and but one style, the style only is numbered. The orders are never taken from the germens except when the style is wanting. The Orders of the fourteenth class are taken from the fruit; there are two, viz. Gymnospermia when the seeds are naked, and Angiospermia when they are contained in a pericarp. Those of the fifteenth class are, like the foregoing, taken from the fruit, with this difference, that here there are no naked seeds but a Siliqua, and the Orders are named according to the size of this, siliculosa and siliquosa. In the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second classes, the Orders are denominated according to the number of the stamens; in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 20th, they are numbered from Diandra upwards; in the 21st and 22d from Monandria. The 19th Class contains none but compound flowers, except a very few. Linnæus considers these flowers as a Polygamy, (polygamia), and prefixes this word to the name of each Order in which the compound flowers are contained;--for example: Polygamia æqualis, when all the florets which a compound flower contains are hermaphrodites, and similar in form, whether they be ligulate or tubular. Polygamia superflua, when the compound flower is radiate; the disk bearing hermaphrodite florets; and the ray, fertile florets. Polygamia frustanea, when the compound flower is radiate, the disk consisting of fertile, hermaphrodite florets, and the ray of barren female florets. Polygamia necessaria, when the compound flower is radiate, the disk consisting of barren hermaphrodite florets, the ray of fertile female florets. Polygamia segregata, when in a compound flower besides the common perianth, each floret is furnished with its own particular calyx. Monogamia is an Order containing all the plants which according to strict system belong to this class, though they are not compound flowers. The plants of the 21st and 22d classes, as we have said already, are divided into Orders according to the number of the stamens ; but besides these, here are two orders taken from the connection of the filaments and antheræ, namely, Monadelphia and Syngenesia. The last Order of both classes is called Gynandria; not because in the plants which belong to it, the stamina stand upon the style; but because in the male flowers there is a production resembling a style to which the stamina are attached. This production Linnæus considers as an imperfect pistulum. In the 23d class the Orders are called Monacia, Diacia. The last class has the following Orders, Filices, Musci, Algæ, and Fungi. From the aforegoing analysis it will be seen that the Linnæan system consists of an artificial and sexual arrangement, and that it does not answer the idea, we have given above, of a perfect system. But till such a one is found out, a system partly natural, partly artificial is the best; we must, however, as we cannot deny the usefulness of Linnæus's system, point out its defects. Linnæus endeavoured, from the number of the stamina, their va rious lengths, and different modes of connection, to unite a natural classification with an artificial one. Hence arose some faults, which would not have happened had he, at the same time, made use of the corola as a character. For instance, in the fourteenth class are contained the labiated and ringent flowers; but because Linnæus characterised it from the four stamens, two of which are short er; there are some of these plants which must stand in the second class, and others in the fourth, though they properly belong to this class. In the same manner, all the papilionaceous flowers are referred to the seventeenth class; but the assumed character, viz. that the filaments are united into two sets, is not to be found in all these plants. Many have the filaments united in one cylinder; and in the tenth class stand many plants with papilionaceous flowers. These two faults are not the greatest which may be attributed to this system: it is a more important objection that Linnæus has numbered the stamens in the first classes without attending to their insertion, while in the twelfth he remarks that they are inserted in the calyx, and in the twentieth, that they stand on the pistillumi. In the nineteenth class are comprehended all the compound flowers, and yet he drags into the last order of this class other plants whose antheræ are only sometimes united. It is also to be regretted, that in the 21st, 22d and 23d classes, Linnæus has taken notice of different sexes in the same plant, which he had not done before; there being many plants in the former classes that properly belong to these. Corresponding Plants in In northern Asia grow Cornus sanguinea Cornus alba. Fagus sylvatica Fagus Castanea Juniperus lycia Morus nigra Lonicera Periclymenum Platanus orientalis Prunus Laurocerasus Rhus Coriaria Ribes nigrum Styrax officinale Thuya orientalis Tilia europaa Ulmus pumila Viburnum orientale Fagus latifolia. Fagus pumila. Juniperus virginiana. Lonicera sempervirens. Pinus inops. Pinus Strobus. Platanus occidentalis. Rhododendron punctatum. Styrax lævigatum. Ulmus americana. Viburnum acerifolium, &c. &c. Between the shrubs of the Cape of Good Hope and those of New Holland, there is likewise a great resemblance. May we not suppose an agreement in respect of soil or situation, at the creation of organic bodies, to have produced the resemblance which we here discover? In cold climates, the plants of the class Cryptogamia are most numerous; there are some tetradynamious, umbelliferous and syngenesious plants; but few trees or shrubs. In warm climates are found most trees and shrubs, many Filices, twining, parasitical, succulent, and lilaceous plants, Bananas and Palms. Herbaceous and annual plants vegetate only in the rainy season. Those with pinnated and strongly veined leaves are found chiefly in tropical countries. Aquatic plants, while they remain under water, have their leaves finely divided; but when they rise above the surface of the water, the leaves become broad, rounder, and at the base more or less emarginated. Plants that grow in elevated situations are the reverse, with respect to the form of their leaves, of those that grow in water. Their radical leaves are more or less intire; but the stem leaves, the higher they rise, are always the more minutely divided. Examples of this we have in the Scabiosa Columbaria, Valeriana, &c. Plants in their wild state remain pretty constant in their appearance, though they vary sometimes; but these variations are inconsiderable, in comparison of what they undergo when they become objects of culture. It is remarkable, that both plants and animals are no sooner domesticated than they begin to change their shape, their colour and taste. Alpine plants, or those of the polar regions, become, in vallies or gardens, very much larger; their leaves increase in length and breadth, but their flowers grow smaller, or at. least do not increase. The plants of warm countries have so differ. ent an appearance from that they have with us, that an inexperienced botanist does not know them in their native places. How endless are the varieties we find in our orchards and kitchen gardens. Now, whence comes the great number of distinct plants which our earth produces! Were these all created originally, or have new species appeared since, in consequence of mixture with one another? It is difficult to give a satisfactory answer to these questions. Linnæus and some other botanists have supposed, that nature origi nally formed nothing but genera, and that the species were produ. ced afterwards by the mixture of these. This hypothesis, however, seerus untenable. In our days, we ought to see new species formed by the mixture of various genera, and experiments would confirm the fact. If it was possible for the infinite power which called every thing into existence to create genera, why should it not also have formed species? We find too much harmony, too much uniformity in nature, and see so much consistency in the machinery of it, to doubt that the wise Creator of the whole did not give at the begin ning to all organized bodies the forms we now see them in. Many genera of plants, however, of which in some countries there are very numerous species, may perhaps, by mixture, have produced a new one. We find, for instance, at the Cape of Good Hope, of the genus Erica, nearly 200 species, of Stapelia above 50, of Ixia and Gladiolus 58, of Protea above 70, of Mesembryanthemum about 180, not to mention other genera which likewise contain numerous species. The great resemblance between some of these, which makes it difficult to find characters to distinguish them by, gives some colour to the supposition. It is now well known, that fertile hybrids are not uncommon in the vegetable kingdom. We find this occurrence in our gardens, and cannot deny that it may sometimes happen in the fields. Nature, however, has wisely provided, that in a wild state an intimate mixture cannot easily take place in plants. Those that nearly resemble one another, we find growing in very distant regions, flowering at different times, or placed in dissimilar situations. It is `only congenerous plants that can mix and produce hybrids; nor can even that happen, unless many species of a genus grow in a given spot. Let us give an example of this position. We have, in various places, three species of Scrophularia growing wild; namely, the Scrophularia verna, nodosa, and aquatica. The first grows about the villages in hedges, and flowers in the spring; the second is found in moist pastures, and flowers a month later: the third grows in rivers, marshes, and ponds, and flowers a month later than the second. Other species of this genus, which resemble the above, grow in Italy, Siberia, in the East, in North America, &c. By none of these can any spurious breed be produced in their native situa. tions. But if we bring all the foreign and indigenous species of the genus together, and place them in a botanic garden, would it be surprising if, in a soil to which they are not accustomed, some should flower sooner and some later than is natural to them, and by the additional means of the insect tribe, flying from one to another loaded with impregnating pollen, a hybrid should appear among them? We shall soon find a number of plants that never origina ly grew wild, but owe their existence solely to botanic gardens. The numerous varieties of our fruits have certainly had their origin in this spurious method of impregnation, and perhaps some that pass for species have been produced in the same way. It is pro bable that Pyrus dioica, Pollveria, and prunifolia, owe their existence to such mixtures. But were it even doubtful whether new plants were ever produced by mixture, we have perhaps a still more important conclusion to |