THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 63 



The botanist has long known of the differences between 

 the so-called flowering dogwoods and those without involucral 

 leaves, but what profit does he gain by changing the generic 

 name of the former to Cynoxylon compared to the loss which 

 he inflicts upon the ornithologist, the entomologist or the 

 student of general scientific interests who knew them under 

 the name of Coriius, and who, unless they be Greek scholars — 

 a rapidly expiring race, by the way — have no conception of 

 what sort of herb, shrub, or tree a Cynoxylon may be? So, 

 too, the unfortunate botanist who may have learned to know 

 certain sparrows as species of Ammodramus fails utterly to 

 recognize his old friends under the names Thyrospiza, Ammo- 

 spisa, and Passerherbtdus. 



I am perfectly aware that the systematist who concerns 

 himself only with questions of the number of species and gen- 

 era and the names for the same in a single branch of science in 

 which he specializes, will regard my remarks as pure rubbish. 

 We must all admit, however, that specialization makes us blind 

 to the views of outsiders and to some of the broader aspects 

 of our specialty. Things that seem to us from long associa- 

 tion necessary, may be found upon unbiased consideration 

 susceptible of very important modifications, and the present 

 problem seems to be one of these. — Abridged from an article 

 in Science, by IVitmer Stone. 



