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of whole groups. For instance, whether or not there is an open passage from the nostrils to the mouth, the only character, according to Owen, which absolutely distinguishes fishes and reptiles— the inflection of the angle of the
in Marsupials— the manner in which the wings of insects are folded— mere colour in certain Algæ— mere pubescence on parts of the flower in grasses— the nature of the dermal covering, as hair or feathers, in the Vertebrata. If the Ornithorhynchus had been covered with feathers instead of hair, this external and trifling character
have been considered by naturalists as
→an aid as important
in determining the degree of affinity of this strange creature to
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| The importance, for classification, of trifling characters, mainly depends on their being correlated with
other characters of more or less importance. The value indeed of an aggregate of characters is very evident in natural history. Hence, as has often been remarked, a species may depart from its allies in several characters, both of high physiological
and of almost universal prevalence, and yet leave us in no doubt where it should be ranked. Hence, also, it has been
that a classification founded on any single character, however important that may be, has always failed; for no part of the organisation is
constant. The importance of an aggregate of characters, even when none are important, alone
→I think, that saying by Linnæus,
that the characters do not give the genus, but the genus gives the characters; for this
seems founded on
appreciation of many trifling points of resemblance, too slight to be defined. Certain plants, belonging to the Malpighiaceæ, bear perfect and degraded flowers; in the latter,
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