| → position 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
| rudimentary florets are 1859 1860 |
|
| → rudimentary florets is 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
| highest importance in the classification 1859 1860 |
|
| → highest importance in the classification of the Grasses. 1861 1866 1869 |
| Grasses. 1859 1860 |
| highest importance in the classification of the grasses. 1872 |
|
|
"differ in having one or more ovaria, in the existence or absence of albumen, in the imbricate or valvular æstivation. Any one of these characters singly is frequently of more than generic importance, though here even when all taken together they appear insufficient to separate Cnestis from Connarus." To give an example amongst insects: in one great division of the Hymenoptera, the antennæ, as Westwood has remarked, are most constant in structure; in another division they differ much, and the differences are of quite subordinate value in classification; yet no one will say that the antennæ in these two divisions of the same order are of unequal physiological importance. Any number of instances could be given of the varying importance for classification of the same important organ within the same group of beings. |
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| Again, no one will say that rudimentary or atrophied organs are of high physiological or vital importance; yet, undoubtedly, organs in this condition are often of
value in classification. No one will dispute that the rudimentary teeth in the upper jaws of young ruminants, and certain rudimentary bones of the leg, are highly serviceable in exhibiting the close affinity between
and
Robert Brown has strongly insisted on the fact that the
→position
of the
→rudimentary florets is
of the
→highest importance in the classification of the Grasses.
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| Numerous instances could be given of characters derived from parts which must be considered of very trifling physiological importance, but which are universally admitted as highly serviceable in the definition 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
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