44 
Desmanthuses, Lecythises, &c. sound offensively to classical 
ears; Melanthia, Desmanthi, Lecythides, are, if not pedantic, 
at least beyond the skill of uneducated readers; but Des- 
manths, Melanths, and Lecyths are formed by the ordinary 
English plural termination without difficulty. 
It is however to be feared that it will be long before these 
views are carried out in such a manner as to ensure their 
adoption. But in the mean while a commencement of the 
plan is practicable, and the author hopes will meet with 
support. The names by which the great groups of plants 
are known are few in number, and very often in use. There 
is certainly no reason why we should not at once English 
them; the practice indeed is already adopted to some extent 
by the substitution of the words Monocotyledons, Dicotyle- 
dons, Exogens, Endogens, Cryptogams, Phænogams, &c. for 
Monocotyledones, Dicotyledones, Exogenæ, Endogenæ, Cryp- 
togamæ, Phænogamæ, &c. Itis even carried further by the 
use of Rosaceous plants instead of Rosaceæ, Orchidaceous 
or Orchideous plants for Orchidaceæ or Orchidee. But 
these amended names are still too long, and too un-English 
in sound. to be in favour with the world which lies without 
the narrow circle of systematic Botanists; and no valid 
reason seems to exist for not immediately reforming that part 
of the nomenclature of Botany. The attempt has been 
already made in the author’s School Botany, where it will be 
found that by availing himself of well-known English names, 
or of the English word “ wort,” or by merely remodelling the 
terminations, a uniform English nomenclature has been 
secured for all the common European natural orders of plants. 
Thus for Nymphæaceæ, Ranunculaceæ, Tamaricaceæ, Zygo- 
phyllaceæ, Elatinaceæ, are substituted Water-lilies, Crow- 
foots, Tamarisks, Bean-Capers, and Water-peppers ; for 
Malvaceæ, Aurantiacee, Gentianaceæ, Primulaceæ, Urti- 
caceæ, Euphorbiaceæ, are employed Mallow-worts, Citron- 
worts, Gentian-worts, Prim-worts, Nettle-worts, Spurge-worts; 
and the terms Orchids, Hippurids, Amaryllids, Irids, Ty- 
phads, Arads, Cucurbits, are taken as English equivalents 
for Orchidaceæ, Halorageæ, Amaryllidaceæ, Iridaceæ, T y- 
phaceæ, Araceæ, and Cucurbitacez. 
The principles kept in view in effecting those changes, 
have been also observed throughout the present work, so that 
standard English names for classes, subclasses, and orders are 
now no longer wanting. The author confidently believes that 
