260 Nomenclature. [ZOE 
any—as equivalent to subspecies on one hand and to the slightest 
variation on the other—would lead to endless confusion. 
Articles I, III, V, VI, VII, VIII will continue to be the practice, 
as they have been in the past, of most botanists. 
Objections to Article II may readily be waived. : 
If Article V is rigidly enforced we shall be delivered from a lot 
of Rafinesquian trash—Agoseris for instance, where no type species 
is named. 
The discussion on Article VI is somewhat surprising, as it is evi- 
dent that some members of the club wished to make the issuance of 
exsiccati a valid publication. It might be endurable to so consider 
sets carefully prepared under competent superintendence and suffi- 
ciently numerous to allow at least one to each country, but a mo- 
ment’s reflection ought to convince anyone that sets as ordinarily 
distributed—in which only the sample, if any, has been submitted 
to authority —would be valueless for such a purpose, while the 
facilities for species-making, already too great, would be eae 
increased. 
And who should have authority to discriminate ? 
Article VIII, requiring the name of the original describer of a 
species to follow it in all cases, and in parenthesis when transferred 
to another genus, seems to us a great improvement over the old 
practice, which made no distinction between species described by 
an author and those merely, for any reason, written after another 
generic name—indeed offered a premium for as many changes as 
possible. The concluding clause, requiring the name of author of 
the last transference to be appended after the parenthesis, will prob- 
_ably be followed or neglected according to the fancy of the writer, 
as at present. 
_ The rock ahead in these rules is the fourth article: the “Once a 
synonym always a synonym” provision. If this were intended as a 
rule for future guidance the objections might easily be overcome, 
though it would enable any mean-minded man—and some such have 
been known in botany—to prevent the commemoration. of the name 
of anyone against whom he might have a grudge, by attaching his 
name to an invalid genus; but as a retroactive measure it will make 
chaos come again, unless—which it is idle to hope for—it could be 
left to the hands of careful monographers, It appears to us far bet- 
ter to let the matter of homonyms rest and devote the time spent. 
