BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE 95 



cribed the neuter gender to the names Dendromecon and Hesperomecon is imma- 

 terial. Similarly all modern compounds ending in -ackne, -carpha, -cephala, 

 -chlamys, -daphne and other feminine words are treated as feminine. 



The generic names Aceras 11. Br., Aegiceras Gaertn. and Xanthoceras Bunge are 

 neuter because they end in the Greek neuter word ceras ; the fact that Kobert Brown 

 and Bunge respectively made Aceras and Xanthoceras feminine is immaterial. Sim- 

 ilarly all modem compounds ending in -dendron, -nema, -stigma, -stoma and other 

 neuter words are neuter. Names ending in -anthos (or anthus) and those in -chilos 

 (or -chilus) ought strictly speaking to be neuter, since that is the gender of the 

 Greek words anthos and cheilos. These names, however, have been with very few 

 exceptions treated as masculine, hence it is agreed to assign that gender to them. 

 Similarly those ending in -gaster, which should strictly speaking be feminine, are 

 treated as masculine in accordance with botanical custom. 



Examples of compound generic names where the termination of the last word is 

 altered: Hymenocarpus, Dipterocarpus and all other modern compounds ending in 

 the Greek masculine carpos (or carpiis) are masculine. Those in -carpa or -carpaea, 

 however, are feminine, e. g. CalKcarpa and Polycarpaea; and those in -carpon, 

 -carpum or -carpium are neuter, e. g. Folycarpon, Ormocarpum and Pisocarpimn. 



(3) Arbitrarily formed generic names or vernacular names used as 

 generic names take the gender assigned to them by their au- 

 thors. Where the original author has failed to indicate the 

 gender, the next subsequent author has the right of choice. 



Examples: Taonabo Aubl. (Hist. PI. Guiane, i, 569: 1775) is feminine; Aublet's 

 two species were T. deniata and T. puncta,ia. — Agati Adans. (Fam. ii, 326: 1763) 

 was published without indication of gender: the feminine gender was assigned to 

 it by Desvaux {Jovrn. Bat. i, 120: 1813), who was the first subsequent author to 

 adopt the name, and iiis choice is decisive. 



Section 15. — Various Recommendations (Rec. XLV-L). 



XLV. Wlien writing in modern languages botanists should use Latin scientific 

 names or those immediately derived from them, in preference to names of another 

 kind or origin (popular names). They should avoid the use of the latter unless 

 these are very clear and in common use. 



XLVI. Every friend of science should oppose the introduction into a modern 

 language of names of plants which are not already there, unless they are derived 

 from Latin botanical names by means of some slight alteration. 



XL VII. Only the metric system should be used in botany for reckoning weights 

 and measures. The foot, inch, line, pound, ounce, etc., should be rigorously ex- 

 cluded from scientific language. 



Altitude, depth, rapidity, etc., should be measured in metres. Fathoms, knots, 

 miles, etc., are terms which should disappear from scientific language. 



XL VIII. Very minute dimensions should be reckoned in /i (micromillimetres, 

 microns, or thousandths of a millimetre) and not in fractions of millimetres or of 

 lines, etc. ; fractions encumbered with cipiiers and commas easily give rise to mis- 

 takes. 



XLIX. Authors should indicate clearly and precisely the scale of the figures 

 which they publish. 



L. Temperatures should be expressed in degrees of the centigrade thermometer 

 of Celsius. 



Chapter IV. — Interpretation and Modification op the Rules (Art. 



73, 74). 



Art. 73. A small permanent International Executive Committee is 

 established with functions including the following:— 



(1) Interpreting the Rules in doubtful cases, and issuing con- 

 sidered "Opinions" on the basis of the evidence submitted. 



(2) Considering Nomina co7iservanda, Nomina amhigua, Nomina 

 dubia and Nomina confusa, and making recommendations 

 thereon to the next International Botanical Congress. 



