THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 123 



recent and regrettable of these changes is the proposal to sub- 

 stitute Shencoodia for Shortia. For more than fifty years the 

 name Shortia has been known throughout the world for a 

 famous group of plants but because an eccentric botanist 

 named Rafinesque happened to use the name Shortia "in an 

 obscure publication" two years before Torrey and Gray gave 

 it to the present genus we are asked to make the change to 

 Sherzvoodia. It is to be hoped that Mr. Sherwood did not 

 have anything to do with suggesting this change. There ought 

 to be some way provided in the rules for him to decline so 

 dubious an honor, but at present he is pilloried, whether he 

 will or not. In these changes, too, the suggestion is always 

 possible that they were made with an eye to personal adver- 

 tisement rather than to the advancement of botany. In the 

 present case it is noted that all the species of the genus Shortia 

 are noticed sufficiently to entitle the one who dug up the old 

 name to add his own name to the new combinations. So long, 

 however, as botanists agree to write the name of the one who 

 changes names after all the changes he makes, we may be sure 

 that all possible changes will be made 



^ ^ ^ 



In a recent botanical work which follows the "American 

 code" there are a few more instances of name making which 

 should receive attention. The old family Compositae once in- 

 cluded plants like the dandelions and the rag-weeds but 

 these were taken out some years ago as two separate families. 

 Now the remaining compositae are again split up into smaller 

 families and we have Grindeliaceae. Gnaphaliaceae, Parthe- 

 niaceae, Madiaceae, Heleniaceae, Anthemidaceae, Senecion- 

 aceae, Carduaceae and so on through the list of tribes. If 

 asked what good, botanically comes from considering the var- 

 ious groups of composites to be separate families, we should 

 have to confess that we do not know. We obsen^e, however 

 that several of these surprising creations have "fam. nov.." 



