120 BOTANICON SINICUM. 
lists of the determined species, by the disagreement between the 
botanists in many instances, which it is sometimes impossible to 
account for. What does this prove? Certainly not the in- 
adequacy of the botanists who determine the plants, but rather 
the difficulty of drawing in every case a clear line of distinction 
between two or several species. In order to convince himself how 
widely the opinions of different authors diverge with respect to 
the same plant, its place in the system and its specific name, the 
reader has only to compare the various monographs on Roses, 
Allium, Tris, Diospyros, ete. published during the last few years, 
—or he may open any volume or page of De Candolle’s Prodromus 
and examine the host of synonyms found there, and the errors 
which botanists impute to each other. 
It is a remarkable fact that those botanists who dispose of vast 
materials, and who in their investigations can refer to a great 
number of species of the same genus, as for instance the authors 
of the Genera Plantarum in London, and the botanists of St. 
Petersburg, are generally inclined to generalize and, while ad- 
mitting a wide range of specific variations, to restrict the number 
of species; for they are often called upon to compare a long series 
of intermediate forms standing between two seemingly quite 
distinct species, but connected by transitions, and they then have 
the alternative of combinin g the two species and the intermediaries 
into one species with several varieties, or of creating a great 
number of new specific names. The sound and practical view 
entertained in this regard by eminent and experienced authors 
should be more generally adopted and appreciated than is the 
case. The question is not to recognize a ‘scientific truth,” but 
merely to assent to a “practical rule” in the way of generalizing 
and simplifying the intricate state of botanical nomenclature, 
which will render systematic botany more useful and accessible 
for reference. 
After this digression from the main subject of our investi- 
gations let us now show what has been already done in the 
re i scientific determination of the plants mentioned in Chinese 
