30 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST, 



from the beginning, there would now be no nomenclature 

 question to vex us; but unfortunately it was not, and as 

 a result there arose a great body of nomenclature based 

 rather upon usage than upon strict priority. The real 

 issue between the two schools is this : Shall this great 

 quantity of nomenclature be retained, despite the technical 

 flaws in this title, (Grayan School) or shall we nOw aban- 

 don it and attempt to bring all nomenclature into con- 

 formity^ with the principle of priority (Neo -American 

 School) ? The reasons for each position, so far as the\' 

 concern the two most important points involved, are very 

 briefly as follows : 



First, it happened often in the past that certain plants 

 were given more than one specific name, and, through 

 misunderstanding of their affinities or other causes, bore 

 one or more generic names betore being transferred to the 

 genus now recognized as scientifically correct. The ques- 

 now arises, shall we adopt as the name of that plant (a) 

 the first combination of generic and specific names the 

 plant bore when finalh' placed in its correct genus, or (b) 

 an addition of the very earliest discoverable specific name 

 applied to the species to the name of its correct genus ? 

 The former can be justified in principle on the ground that 

 a scientific name is primarily a combination of generic and 

 specific names, and that hence the first correct combina- 

 tion is the true prior name of that plant, while in practice 

 it has the advantage of giving a more definite and readily 

 traceable starting point for the names, and it helps to re- 

 tain a large part of the existent nomenclature ot American 

 plants. This is the position of the Grayan School, and ot 

 the workers at Kew in England ; in practice it is known 

 as the Kew rule. The other school acts on the principle 

 that a scientific name is not primarily a combination of 

 generic and specific names but riither a specific plus a 

 generic name, and that the first specific name ever given 

 to a plant should be retained for it no matter what its 

 subsequent fate as to transfer from genus to genus. It 

 must be admitted that there is much theoretical reason- 



