TERMINOLOGY AND CLASSIFICATION OF DIATOMS. 103 



What new idea have they introduced? They have but wasted the best 

 of their time and energy in seeking minutiae which they alone perceive, 

 and which, after all, only result in the overburdening of a nomenclature 

 which is already very embarrassing. I feel very tempted to apply the 

 following cruel adage to the results of their patient labour: Verba et voces 

 prceterea nihil? 



Let the diatomist reflect, and he will see that what Mr. Naudin has also 

 said with regard to higher plants (in which comparison can easily be made 

 with the naked eye) is even still more applicable to diatoms, which are 

 probably affected by a good many more influences than we are ever likely 

 to know of. When one has observed for the number of years that Mr. 

 Naudin and myself have if I may be permitted to join my name with 

 his the varieties of forms in the cultivation of Phanerogams, one is less 

 inclined to create a fresh name for every slight modification in the valves 

 of diatoms. It will be noticed that these innumerable forms have only 

 been created by specialists who have not been accustomed to the study 

 of the higher plants, whilst Walker-Arnott, Professor of Botany at Edinburgh, 

 and de Brebisson, who are both of them eminent florists and Phaneroga- 

 mists, have created new species but sparingly. 



