217 
next higher group above family. It seems to me that’a desirable 
step in the direction of uniformity would be taken if all botanists 
would, in this regard, conform to the usage of zodlogists; for, al- 
though we need not strive after similarity of nomenclature in the 
two kingdoms, yet we should avoid, so far as practicable, the use 
of the same appellations with a distinctly differeut meaning. 
The termination in aceae is the one now generally accepted by 
botanists for family names. It is strictly in accordance with good 
Latin and otherwise unobjectionable. The vexed question is, 
can it and must it be applied in all cases? A. de Candolle in his 
“Laws of Botanical Nomenclature” (1867) establishes three ex- 
ceptions: 
Ist. When the genus from which is derived the family name 
ends in zx or 2s (genitive icis, idis or iscis) the termination zeae, 
‘deze or ineae is admitted: SALICINEAE, BERBERIDEAE, TAMARIS- 
CINEAE. 
2d. When the genus from which the family name is derived has 
a name of unusual length, and there is no tribe founded upon it, 
the termination in eae is admitted: DipTEROCARPEAE from Dipter- 
ocarpus. 
3d. For a few large families, named long ago, and now every- 
where known under their irregular names, the latter are main- 
tained: CruciFERAE, LEGUMINOSAE, GUTTIFERAE, UMBELLIFERAE, 
Compositar, Lapiatar, CUPULIFERAE, CONIFERAE, PALMAE, GRAM- 
INEAE. 
These exceptions, when formulated, expressed the best con- 
Servative usage of the day, but it is apparent they have lost much 
of their strength and I doubt whether their illustrious author 
would now insist upon the first two. The first has long since 
been disregarded ; thus in Gray’s Manual, as well as in Pflanzen- 
familien and Baillon’s Histoire des Plantes, we have SALICACEAE, 
BERBERIDACEAE, PLANTAGINACEAE, ORCHIDACEAE, AMARYLLIDA- 
CEAE, etc? The length of the name is a point upon which we 
need not dwell; so long as a name is correctly constructed eed 
number of syllables cannot be of much moment; thus in Baillon’s. 
Histoire we have DiprEROCARPACEES and CENTROLEPIDACEES, and 
in Pflanzenfamilien, PoraMOGETONACEAE, HyDROCHARITACEAE, etc. 
It is therefore obvious that whenever the name of a family is de- 
