166 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



flowers each year ; the second is found in woods but I have 

 seldom found the flowers. One year I will find many 

 withered stalks with seed-pods but on visiting the same place 

 the following year at the time when blossoms are due, I find 

 plants but no sign of bud or blossom. I always find plants, 

 however. Can anyone tell me whether this species blossoms 

 intermittentlv or does it die after it has blossomed and the 

 plants found the second year are young plants." 



Accent of Common Names. — Writing of the proper 

 pronunciation of arbutus, Robert A. Benton says : "The 

 stress in tlie Latin word, of course, falls on the first syllable 

 as is shown by this verse out of Vergil 'Dulcc satis humor 

 depiilsis arbutus haedis' — 'Full sweet the dew (full sweet) 

 the arbutus to the weaned kids.' The arbutus in Italy is a 

 tree quite commonly met with having a fruit like a straw- 

 berry that may be food for more tender creatures. Its 

 leaves and twigs are pleasing to goats. Bailey, in "Field, 

 Forest and Garden Botany" gives the classical pronunciation 

 but the "Standard Dictionary" (1895) gives that only for 

 the arbutus tree or shrub and makes the accent fall on the 

 second syllable for Bpigaca rcpcns — trailing arbu-tus. When 

 names are adopted into the English out of other languages it 

 is clearly allowable to fix the form and pronunciation to suit 

 the genius of the language. We do this with many bible 

 names and with many names taken from Greek and Latin ; 

 for example, Philip, Socrates, Pompey and many others ; al- 

 so with modern names as Antwerp, Leghorn, Naples, Brus- 

 sels, etc. If this is allowable with historical and geographi- 

 cal names, why not with botanical ones?" And J. M. Bates 

 adds : "It should be made as plain as plain can be that the 

 common names of plants do not have to conform to the pro- 

 nunciation of the Latin names. These matters cannot be 

 forced and there is no reason whv thev should be. For in- 



