96 NOTES ON ASARUM. 



be found capable of carryiDg on this undertaking : and we confess 

 that in our opinion it would be better that it should be allowed to 

 lapse than entrusted to the care of any one who is not specially 

 qualified for the task. 



It may be of interest to add here that Mr. G. S. Boulger has 

 for some time been engaged in revising and bringing up to date 

 that very useful and popular book, Johns' Flowers of the Field. If 

 this is thoroughly done, it will form a useful introduction to Mr. 

 Linton's more complete work : and in this aspect it is satisfactory 

 to know that Mr. Boulger has also adopted the London Catalogue as 

 his standard of nomenclature. 



Mr. Linton will be grateful for the offer of fresh specimens of 

 interesting plants. His address is — Crymlyn, Bournemouth. 



NOTES ON ASARUM. 

 By James Britten, F.L.S., and Edjiund G. Baker, F.L.S. 



The following remarks are the outcome of an inquiry addressed 

 to one of us by Mr. W. W. Ashe, of Raleigh, N.C. Mr. Ashe, 

 having printed a paper on " The Genus Asarum in Eastern 

 America," in which he purposely ignored a Linn^ean name, be- 

 thought himself that it might be well to have his species compared 

 "with the Linn^an specimen," and forwarded material for that 

 purpose. It seems to us that the inquiry should have been made 

 before his paper was printed. 



At the present day most botanists of repute are aware of the 

 importance of consulting types. This is notably the case in 

 America, where the example set by Asa Gray is followed by 

 such men as Dr. Britton, Dr. Greene, Prof. Trelease, Prof. Bailey, 

 and others, who, on their visits to this country, never fail to con- 

 sult the old material preserved in the National Herbarium on which 

 so many of the earlier species of American plants are founded. At 

 the same time there are others, and not only in America, who 

 avowedly ignore the old material and start afresh. This plan, 

 which undoubtedly saves trouble to the botanist who follows it in 

 exactly the same proportion as it must increase the difficulties of 

 more thorough workers who succeed him, finds favour with Mr. 

 W. W. Ashe. 



Before quoting from Mr. Ashe's paper the passage in which he 

 justifies this mode of proceeding, a question arises as to the paper 

 itself. It is headed "Botanical Contributions from my Herbarium. 

 No. I.," and a footnote says it was "issued Oct. 28, 1897, Raleigh, 

 N.C." It bears no imprint either of publisher or printer, and 

 consists of four octavo pages. There is no indication that it can 

 be obtained anywhere, and no price is stated. Mr. E. P. Bickuell'^' 

 refers to it as "a privately printed paper," and the question arises 



* Bull. Ton-ey Bot. Club, 1897, 536. 



