Since the perfecting of a Natural Arrangement has become the grand object of scientific pursuit, it has been found necessary to enter more minutely than was required by an artificial system, into modifications of structure and function. Botanists have no longer rested satisfied with observing plants in their fully developed forms, but have also had recourse to several other periods in the existence of vegetable life, the observance of which gives much insight into the organisation of the individual. Of these there is none more important than germination, which is often the only means afforded for ascertaining the structure of the seed. This is the case with all the cryptogamic tribes, the seeds of which are generally so minute, that many of them must be brought together before they be distinctly visible.