68 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



recognition of specific, generic and other natural groups of 

 organisms, so also uniformity and stability for the whole 

 world of science, but I certainly have deep sympathy for the 

 morphologists, cytologists, physiologists and other workers, 

 who must perforce use some name to designate the material 

 on which their work is based and who find a most chaotic 

 assemblage of names from which to select. . . . . No 

 taxonomist should have the heart and if possible should not 

 have the power or opportunity, by shifting a genus or rear- 

 ranging species, to foist upon a patient world the necessity of 

 adopting a new combination in the names of common species 

 universally referred to in anatomy, medicine, agriculture or 

 other lines of applied science. I have elsewhere hinted at the 

 discouraging nature of these nomenclatorial acrobatics to the 

 student entering on zoological work. I have good reason to 

 believe that many promising and brilliant young workers have 

 been disgusted and have drawn to other fields of effort be- 

 cause of the complexities and apparently senseless chaos in- 

 volved in the synonomy of many of our common animals. 

 Think of thirty-six different specific combinations for the 

 oyster-shell scale (that is, 36 the last time I had occasion to 

 note the number) or twenty-six for the screw worm fly." 



Hardy Houseleeks. — The common houseleek, Scmper- 

 vivum tectorinn, often known as hen-and-chickens, is a plant 

 of central Europe, that has been reported as an escape in Mas- 

 sachusetts and New Jersey. Elsewhere it is frequently plant- 

 ed in gardens, but like most of the Crassulaceae, it has the 

 reputation of being tender in spite of its generic name. It is 

 interesting, therefore, to note that it has proven perfectly 

 hardy in the vicinity of Chicago in temperatures of more than 

 ten degrees below zero continued for days at a time. This 

 plant has the reputation of rarely blooming, but it also fruited 



