/ET. 47.] TO GEORGE BENTHAM. 435 



Pear ; genus = Pyrus, under it 

 Pear, with its species ; 

 Apple, 1. Common Apple, 

 2. Crab-Apple, etc. 



There are formidable difficulties about this popular 

 nomenclature, yet they must be surmounted in some 

 way or other. 



As we are making much of English, why not say 

 " rootstock r instead of " rhizome." I do not like 

 French forms. I would even say " pod ' instead of 

 "capsule," in popular parlance. 



Kindly send me proofs as you go on. I want much 

 to see them. 



Wright's collections in North Pacific Expedition 

 are here, and he is turning over his Behring Straits 

 collection and trying to work it out, with some help 

 from me. There is a Hongkong collection ; there may 

 be some of these he would like to ask you to name, 

 so far as you may off hand. The Japan collection I 

 will elaborate myself. There is not so much from the 

 north as I expected. They had no chance to explore 

 the small islands connecting with the Kurile Islands^ 

 I have only peeped into one or two parcels ; but in 

 one I saw two things which will interest you as much 

 as they did me. Imagine the two most characteristic 

 possible eastern United States plants, Caulophyllum 

 and Diphylleia, both, I believe, our very species. Tell 

 this to Dr. Hooker ! 



The only domestic news I have to tell you is, that 

 on a hot August day our beloved Newfoundland dog 

 was found dead, really a sad loss. To console us 

 my brother-in-law, a fortnight after, sent me a puppy 

 of the same breed, an uneasy, frolicsome, awkward 

 fellow yet, but promising to be intelligent and very 



