304 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 54 



Nomenclature. Euricius Cordus having demonstrated that many 

 a plant type native to Germany and well known to Germans 

 was entirely unknown to the Greeks and Latins of antiquity, 

 his son Valerius proceeded to name and describe such types, so that 

 they might take their places — so that each might become the sub- 

 ject of a chapter — in books of botany. Valerius Cordus was the 

 first man in history to establish many new genera of plants. I do 

 not know that any one author between Dioscorides and Valerius 

 Cordus proposed more than one or two new genera. This man all 

 at once proposed so very many that his book is a great landmark 

 in the history of genera. What we are here interested in finding 

 out is whether in the naming of his new genera Cordus either tacitly 

 or openly subscribes to any particular principles of generic nomen- 

 clature. From what we know of his antecedents as the carefully 

 instructed favorite son of a celebrated Greek and Latin scholar, 

 we shall reasonably expect to find him constructing his new names 

 after classic models ; making no inroads upon ancient usage. Let 

 us make a selection of his new names, that the student of nomencla- 

 ture may observe the manner of their construction. 



Cordus Modem 



Anblatum Lathraea. 



Balsamella Impatiens. 



Coralloides Dentaria. 



Drosion Alchemilla. 



Isophyllon Bupleurum. 



Limnesion Gratiola. 



Lycostaphylos Opulus. 



Millegrana Herniaria. 



Moschatella Adoxa. 



Helianthemum Helianthemum. 



Oxycoccus Oxycoccus. 



Pneumonanthe Pneumonanthe. 



Rorella Drosera. 



Sagitta Sagittaria. 



Thamaecnemum Vaccaria. 



It will be seen that by far the greater proportion of these fifteen 

 generic names is regularly Greek-made; some five are as plainly 

 Latin, while one only, and that the first of the list is very barbarous 

 Latin; for Anblatum is said to be the old German name Ohnhlatt 

 (leafless) written over into Latin and supplied with the convenient 

 terminal. It may be remarked that there is not one in this list 



