13G THE JOUEKAL OF EOTATfY 



9. Sides for determinivrj ilie cjcnder of r/eneric names. — Approved 

 by Dr. Schinz, and by Mr. Jlehder except with regard to 9 C, which 

 provides that indeclinable names borrowed from non-classical lan- 

 guages should be treated as neuter. Mr. Rehder would prefer " to 

 accept the gender as used by the author who introduced them as 

 generic names." But it is often impossible to ascertain what gender 

 was assigned to a generic name by its author. Many Latin adjectives 

 have a common form for the masculine and feminine, and others are 

 the same in the nominative singular in all three genders. Take the 

 genera Gonami, Oourimari, and Cour atari, for example; it may be 

 surmised that Aublet regarded them as feminine, as he undoubtedly 

 did Coiqjoul and Saouari, but it cannot be proved, Conami 

 hrasilieiisis, Courimari guianensis, and Couratari (juianeusis might 

 be either masculine or feminine as far as the trivials are concerned. 



Nor would it be satisfactory in such cases to take the gender 

 assigned by the next author in chronological sequence, even Avhen that 

 gender can be ascertained. There would be no difficulty in the case 

 of Couratari, which was treated as feminine by Martius in 1836 

 (C. domestica), but what about Boithamon'^ Aublet's species was 

 JRouhamon guianensis, which was either masculine or feminine ; but 

 De CandoUe made the genus neuter (DC. Prodr. ix. 17 ; 1845), 

 doubtless because it had the apjiearance of a Greek noun in -or. 



Amelancliier is another good example. The genus w^as founded 

 by Medikus on Mespilus Amelancliier Linn., *' Amelancliier " or 

 " Amelancher," being the Provenc^al name for this species (Lobel, 

 Hist. 608 ; Advers. 411 ; 1676), The two species named by 

 Medikus were A. canadensis and A. ovalis. The genus is generally 

 treated as feminine, but Asclierson and Graebner (Syn. Mitteleur. 

 Fl. vi. Abth. 2, 48, footnote) suggest that it ought probably to be 

 masculine ; and the same view was put forward by A. Voss (Mitteil. 

 Gartenbau-Ges. Steiermark, 1912, No. 9). No finality is ever 

 attained in such discussions, and it seems better to have a definite rule 

 that names of this kind should be neuter. This is in accordance with 

 the rule of Latin grammar, that indeclinable nouns are neuter. 



Where the original author added to the vernacular name the 

 termination -its, -«, or -2(,7n, the name should be treated as masc, 

 fem., or neut. respectively. Thus Aheremoa Cfrom "Aberemou") 



and Vouacapoita (from "Voicapou") are feminine by termination. 



Similarly, Cajan is neuter, but the form Gajanus is masculine. 



9E. Greek and Latin neuter plurals used as generic names 



should he treated as feminine singulars. — Example : Triantliema 



(jpUi cii'tie/ju, three flowers) should be feminine. 



Classical precedents may be cited : the feminine singulars arma, 



-m, and opera, -le, were derived from the neuter plurals arma, -orum, 



and opera, -um respectively. In a similar wa}^ many Latin neuter 



])lurals gave rise in the Romance languages to feminine singulars : 



from the Latin plural folia arose the feminine singulars feuille (Fr.), 



foglia (It.), folha (Port.), hoja (Span.). 



Some further suggestions are now put forward for consideration. 



For convenience of reference they are numbered consecutively. 



13. The types of all genera should he fixed hg an International 



Nomenclature Commission (see pp. 112, 134). 



