284 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



The text, for the size and character of the book, is well illns- 

 trated, but the great majority of the figures are borrowed, with due 

 acknowledgment, from well-known works, chiefly of German origin, 

 and, this being the case, it is not easy to understand why it is 

 necessary to charge six shillings for the volume. Fischer of Jena 

 would have produced it, with plenty of original illustrations, for 

 three marks. Tlie book, though not without some value as an 

 introduction to the study of a family of great botanical and infinite 

 economic interest, can hardly be considered so indispensable as to 

 demand a price which is, from the student's point of view, 

 exorbitant. Perhaps, to quote a student's remark, "they don't 

 expect to sell many." ABE 



Histoire de VAbrotonum. Signification de la desinence ex de quelqnes 

 noms de plantps. Par le Dr. Saint-Lager. Paris : J. B. 

 Bailliere. 1900. Pp. 48. 



The subject of this pamphlet is twofold, as shown in the above 

 title: (1) to correct the spelling of the name usually given as 

 Abrnta,nu)u : and (2) to consider the meaning of the ending " ex " in 

 certain plant-names. As to the first, the author has no difficulty 

 in showing that the name was originally written as he gives it ; 

 that botanists including Caspar Bauhin have since mis-spelled it, 

 and even induced a false derivation, based on the error. Dr. Saint- 

 Lager is an untiring stickler for reform in naming, far beyond any- 

 thing advanced by the most revolutionary of present-day reformers, 

 for he would willingly go behind Linnaeus. His views are so well- 

 known that it is needless here to dwell much on them, especially as 

 none of the disputants in the nomenclature question seem disposed 

 to adopt them. The author even goes so far in his zeal as to mis- 

 quote Besser's Tentamen de Ahrotmis ... as "Tent. Abroton." 

 (p. 21) ; even Camerarius and C. Bauhin are similarly treated, 

 which is unpardonable. Once, indeed, the author cites Tentamen 

 Abrotdsnonnn, probably by oversight. 



Apart from these special peculiarities of the author, there will 

 be found a large amount of interesting matter in these pages. 

 Passing from the form of the name, Dr. Saint-Lager proceeds to 

 discuss the geographic origin of Artemisia AbrotanuDi Lam., finally 

 suggesting that it is merely a cultivated form of A. procera Willd. 



The latter part of the pamphlet is devoted to a consideration of 

 the plant-names ending in ex, such as Ule.v, Ilex, Eumex, and 

 Carex. With these he compares the animal-names haying a like 

 ending, of which he gives a long list, and states that it probably 

 is the same as the prefix " ac," conveying the idea of something 

 sharp or pointed. B D J 



