Page:Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Volume 8 (1807).djvu/21

 OF THE

Read March 15, 1803.

following Observations have been hastily committed to paper, to excite the attention of those Botanists, whom I might have the honour of addressing this evening, to a very important branch of their favourite science; namely, that insertion of the Stamina which the celebrated Jussieu has denominated Perigynous: for I lament that as yet I have not met with one of our own countrymen, who had ever thought about the subject at all. I presume that this perigynous insertion is entirely factitious, or in other words, which you will all comprehend whether you have read Jussieu&apos;s book or not, that there is no instance whatever in the whole Vegetable Kingdom, of Stamina being inserted in the Calyx. Nor is this mere logomachia, or a cavil respecting terms: for, if my ideas be true, the difficulty of distinguishing Calyx from Corolla will rarely occur, and the designation of each of those parts correspond more exactly with its real office and importance in the Vegetable Economy. Who