16 PLAN OF THE CATALOGUE. 



Britton in his article '*0n the Naming of 'Forms' in the 

 New Jersey Catalogue." ^ It is not thought well, however, to 

 attach the name of any author to these so called forms, as the 

 line between a form and a mere variation is generally too 

 shadowy to call for the exercise of any judgment worthy of 

 recognition in the decision that one variation or another should 

 be dignified by the term forma. Forms should bear names for 

 the sake of convenience, and if properly named; that name 

 should be preserved to avoid confusion, if the form proves after 

 investigation to be a well defined variety. In such a case, how- 

 ever, to cite the author of the name in parentheses seems to 

 savor more of affectation than of common sense or utility, and 

 if so, why mention the author of a form at all? A line must 

 be drawn somewhere to check the increasing tendency to self- 

 glorification that can at present be so easily gratified on the 

 part of the amateur as well as of the professional botanist. In 

 this Catalogue, therefore, as has been stated, no authors are 

 cited for the names of mere forms. Should, however, any one 

 desire to know them, a goodly number may be found in Dr. 

 Britton's article just referred to. 



VII. The usual terms common, uncommon, freq^ient, infre- 

 quent, occasional, rare, etc., are used to denote the relative 

 occurrence of the different plants. It must be remembered, 

 however, that these terms apply only to a plant in its proper 

 habitat. Because a seashore plant is "common," no one should 

 expect to find it on the mountains ! Where few stations are 

 given for any plant, it does not necessarily follow that it does 

 not occur elsewhere. New stations are likely to be reported 

 at any time for nearly all such plants. It merely indicates, 

 therefore, that thus far collectors have not been successful 

 in detecting any very general distribution of the plant in 

 question. 



VIII. An asterisk prefixed to names of plants indicates that 

 a specimen of the plant in question is not to be found in the 

 Mount Desert Herbarium at the present time, although the 

 occurrence of the plant within the territorial limits is un- 

 doubted. 



1 See Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, xvii. 121. 



