o 



oo E. LEVIER [april 



brievement possible. — II est a souhaiter qu'on oublie Ic novateur [c'est 

 nous qui souliguons] pour dormer du monographe toute la considera- 

 tion a laquelle il a droit." (Joum. de Botaniquc, Mars, 1892.) 



This translucent panegyric has been swallowed whole by the candid 

 doctor, who, clumsily and lamentably, has fallen into the trap set for 

 his immodesty. After that, it is quite fitting for him to call others 

 "imbeciles," "idiots," and "sheepsheads." Need we have another example 

 of the cock-and-bull stories, and the laughable illogicisms into which 

 impulsives of Kuntze's kidney fall without suspecting it ? 



"M. Levier," writes this hot-headed doctor (Rev. g. pi. iii. p. 51), 

 "me provoque dans sa Rectification {Bull. Hero. Boiss. 1896, p. 575) 

 au duel litteraire, mais on ne se bat pas contre des idiots, on les traite 

 tellement qu'ils ne puissent plus faire de mal, ce qu'il est de mon devoir 

 de fair maintenant." (Listen to the method) " II m'a done autorise 

 a l'appeler Schafskopf, conformement il a donne plus tard ses jugements 

 avec une infaillibilite soubite (sic) sur beaucoup de question de la nomen- 

 clature sans en avoir la capacite, tout en usant de sa verbosite inquie- 

 tante et de sa fantaisie ; mais, en consideration de l'arrogance impor- 

 tune de ce Schafskopf et en consideration de son artifice et de la faussete 

 extraordinaire qu'il a prouvees plusieurs fois, il ne serait point injuste 

 de le stigmatiser comme charlatan dangereux." 



After this thrust, one would perhaps think me dead, and my evil- 

 doings cut short. Not the least in the world. In his picturesque 

 gibberish Otto Kuntze goes on : — 



" II (Levier) est aussi dangereux, parce qu'il va empecher un 

 Congres competent pour s'epargner la correction de sa regie a part (sic) 

 et l'application de ses idees fixes." 



Very good. I can rise up, with all the holes drilled me, in the 

 omnipotence of a demi-god, having all the botanists of the world in my 

 pocket ! Kuntze, decidedly, has no chance with his " Sheepshead." 

 His sharpest arrows return cruelly upon himself, and he sheepsheads 

 himself vigorously. But a truce to gaiety ; let us neglect even this 

 neologism : auto - sheepsheadification, worthy to be by the side of 

 Biscogneauxia 0. K., of Mullerama 0. K., of Pcckifimgus 0. K., etc., and — 

 courtesy for courtesy — let us compliment Jupiter 0. K., on his double- 

 escapement thunderbolts, good for killing, and better for restoring to life. 



The energy of Doctor Kuntze is inexhaustible ; the manifold 

 talents that he displays to make laughter at his own expense, appear 

 as a diamond of a thousand facets which each throws its own bright 

 flash. Never short of burlesque and acrobatic inventions, after having 

 committed Koehneago, Lipponiucllera (blear-eyed Mueller), Cesiusia, 

 Pasaccardoa, Radlkoferotoma, and other quips, the imaginative doctor 

 has searched further and found better. He has surpassed himself. 

 The plum of his pie (after Tripocorynelia tripos 0. K.) will without 

 contradiction be the " Trifolium charlatanicum, avec les trois varietes 

 levierianum, lejolisianvm, aschersonianum — les types ! — de plus nov. 



