PUNCTUATION, SYNONYMY. 365 



genera. Or the members may be united in one sentence, but in 

 that case the principal ones are best separated by colons. 



753. Should a point intervene between the specific name and 

 that of the author cited? The practice varies. But, if the name 

 is Latin, the comma is superfluous ; for the abbreviated name of 

 the author is supposed to be in the genitive, and to read thus : 

 Ranunculus repens Linncei. Still, since when the author's name 

 is cited in full it is never written in the genitive, and since in 

 English the comma is normally required, it seems on the whole 

 proper to insert it. 



754. In citations, the classical practice is to separate the refer- 

 ences from each other and from the name by periods ; thus, 

 " Anemone cylindrica, Gra}*, Ann. N. Y. Lye. 3. 221. Torr. & 

 Gray, Fl. 1. 113," l &c. It is becoming equally customary to 

 separate the several citations by semicolons, thus bringing all the 

 references under one name into one sentence. The bibliography 

 of a species or group of species which a describer or other author 

 has to refer to (with more or less fulness, according to the form 

 of his work) is to be sought parti}- under the admitted name, 

 and partly in the 



755. Synonymy. This includes all other than the admitted 

 names. Ex. Hydropeltis of Michaux is a synonym of Brasenia of 

 Schreber, the latter being the earlier published name. Nectris 

 of Schreber is a synonym of Cabomba of Aublet, the latter hav- 

 ing priority. Thalictrum anemonoides of Michaux has for syno- 

 nyms Anemone thalictroides of Linnaeus and of many subsequent 

 authors who followed him in referring this ambiguous plant to 

 Anemone (721) ; and also Syndesmon thalictroides of Hoffmannsegg 

 and Anemonella thalictroides of Spach, who proposed to consider 



superfluous. The preferable punctuation of the character above-quoted 

 from the Prodromus would be 



RANUNCULUS ACRIS (Linn.) : foliis pubescentibus subglabrisve palmato- 

 partitis, lobis inciso-dentatis acutis, summis linearibus ; caule erecto pluri- 

 floro subpubescente ; pedunculis teretibus ; calyce subvilloso ; carpellis 

 mucrone suberecto terminatis. 



The advantages of this style of punctuation will more and more appear, 

 when applied to less simple cases. Commas between the ablative adjectives 

 are superfluous and confusing. 



In English characters, commas are required between the adjectives which 

 follow the noun. Rightly to express the subordination of characters, the plan 

 adopted in the Synoptical Flora of Nortli America is recommended ; that is, 

 with colons separating the principal members, semicolons for subordinate 

 and dependent ones, and commas between the adjectives of the same noun. 



1 See Watson's Bibliographical Index to North American Botany (where 

 this style is adopted) for a general model for the arrangement of synonymy 

 and citations. 



