114 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



them curious and interesting, have been supplied by Mr. L. J. K. 

 Brace. Our protest against these manufactured synonyms in the 

 Bermuda hook (Journ. Bot. 1919, 45) led to an expostulation from 

 Dr. Britton, whose experience with the public leads him toan opposite 



conclusion: their use, lie thinks, removes the objection of most 

 people to the use of Latin names for plants and animals, which they 

 do not want to bother with: whereas they understand an English 

 appellation. " I think," he adds, "that it is the duty of those of us 

 who carry the actual scientific knowledge of the world to bring it as 

 close to the people as we possibly can." In this we of course concur — - 

 we have no sympathy with those (if they exist) "who Allium call 

 their onions and their leeks" — but we fail to see in what way Pon- 

 thicra BrittonicB is brought closer to the people by calling it 

 ''■ Mrs. Britton's Ponthieva " nor — pace Dr. Britton — do we think 

 that Carter/a would ever in real life lie called " Carter's Orchid. " 

 Something may be said for the coining of names for common plants 

 which do not already possess them, as has been done for many garden 

 Species with some success; but when a plant becomes popular its 

 accepted Latin name accompanies it : chrysanthemums, rhododendrons, 

 geraniums, and the like needed no " English " equivalent as an 

 introduction to the people, who are not likely under any circum- 

 stances to come in contact with plants of such limited distribution 

 and insignificant appearance as those we have named. Nor do we see 

 that Metastelma Eggersii benefits, from a popular standpoint, by 

 "being called " Eggers' [Eggers's] Metastelma " ; or that anything is 

 gained by calling the endemic Neobracea bahamensis, a name here 

 first published, " Bahama Neobracea" ; or why, merely because of its 

 Latin equivalent, Dendropemon hahamensis should be specialised as 

 "Bahama Mistletoe" when three other species (one endemic) occur 

 in the islands. Fissidens radicans is hardly likely to become more 

 familiar as " Radicant Fissidens" — one would have thought that the 

 trivial might at least have been given in English ! 



Four New Text-books. 



A Text-booh of Plant Biology. By W. Neilson Jones, M.A., 

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 Department of Botany, University College, Reading. 8vo, 

 pp. viii, 262, with plates and 30 text-figs. Methuen : London, 

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College Botany, Structure, Physiology and Economics of Plants. 

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The Selborne Botany for Schools. By Percival J. Asiiton. Svo, 

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Botany with Agricultural Applications. By John H. Maktix, 

 Ph.D., Professor in Botany at the Iowa State College of Agricul- 

 ture and Mechanic Arts. Second Edition Revised. Svo, pp. xii, 

 601, with 190 text-figs. Wiley : New York, 1920. Price 21s. 



