prksidknt's addkess. 695 



4. — Revisions of Botanical Names must be the wohk of 

 monographeks. 



Asa Gray ever inculcated caution in the alteration of botanical 

 names, and one of his last dicta states,* "the business of deter- 

 mining rightful names is not so simple and mechanical as to 

 younger botanists it appears to be, but is very full of pitfalls.'"' 



In a review of Dr. Taubert's paper in ' Bot. Centralblatt ' on 

 the nomenclature of some genera and species of Leguminosse, the 

 editor! adds the judicious remark : — " In cases where a restitution 

 of an old generic name has been established, it has been customary 

 to leave the specific combinations as a whole to be dealt with by 

 a monographer of the genus, and this has the further advantage 

 of preventing an undue increase of synon3'ms, as most mono- 

 graphers sink a certain number of species, which thus do not 

 need re-naming." 



The practice of Rudolph 8chlechter in this respect appeals to 

 common sense. In his ' Monographie der Podochilinse'^ he 

 explains the necessity of merging Appendicula in Podochilus. 

 At p. 64, he opens a sort of suspense account, " Species mihi non 

 visse vel imperfecte nottie," in wliicli he leaves the names as he 

 finds them. If the species of Ajipmdicula there referred to prove 

 to be good species of Podocliihis, they can be named, but, until 

 that is proved, Schlechter declines the responsibility of coining 

 new names for "species non visa^ vel imperfecte not^e," 



Berlin Rule 2 may be important to us, and reads " The name of 

 a genus is, however, allowed to lapse if it has not been in general 

 use fifty years, counted from the date of its establishment. If 

 the name has, however, been revived in monographs or large 

 floras as a result of following the laws of nomenclature of the 

 year 1(S68, ' that name is to hold good.' " This well-intentioned 



* Journ. Bot. xxxii. 19. ' Asa Giay's last words on Nomenclature. 

 Keprinted from ' The Letters of Asa Gray ' (Macmillan). 

 + Journ. Bot. xxix. .352. 

 % Mem. de I'Herbier Boissier. No, 21 (1900). 



