l 5 2 The Botanical Gazette, [May, 



single out examples of these from the numerous ones in recent publi- 

 cations. Rather it is our endeavor to stay the tide of folly. 



Many botanists who appreciate their limitations in the matter of 

 describing new species, ignore or underrate their limitations in the 

 matter of nomenclature. It is vastly easier as a rule to determine and 

 describe a new species than to settle on the oldest proper name of a 

 plant. In the latter, experience is of even greater value than in the 

 former. Those who think it a mere matter of searching through books 

 will find in their undoing that it is much more. 



Is it not also curious, from a psychological point of view, that one 

 who is compiling a local flora or writing an article- on local plants, 

 should decline to use the names applied to the plants in the flora of 

 the country — names which it is quite certain designate unmistakably 

 what plant is meant — and should go searching after other names 

 which may be older and may be applicable to the plants under con- 

 sideration ? Is it not evident that something other than a clear indi- 

 cation of the plants is sought ? Is it the cheap renown of differing 

 from "an authority ?" 



While Lesquereux and James's Manual is the best book on the 

 mosses of North America, let us use the names therein, even though we 

 see their faults. While Gray's Manual remains the best book on the 

 flowering plants of its range let us use its names, and " therewith be 

 content." And so of every book. Accept the best till there is a better. 

 Only when monographing a group has one a moral right to discard any 

 name however bad. 



CURRENT LITERATURE. 



Minor Notices. 



Plant* Europe* is the title of an important work by Dr. K. 

 Richter, whose first volume has just appeared. It is intended to be a 

 systematic enumeration, with synonymy, of the indigenous phanero- 

 gams of Europe. The first volume contains 378 pages, with a very 

 complete index, and presents the Gymnosperms and Monocotyledons. 

 In the matter of nomenclature the oldest specific name is adopted, in 

 whatever genus it has appeared. The Gymnosperms show 8 genera 

 and 40 species; while the Monocotyledons have an enumeration of 251 

 genera and 1799 species. The largest family « Graminece, with 751 



species, followed by Liliacea ( 342 species), Cyperacea (287 species), 

 Orcmdace* (170 species), and Iridaceae (105 species). The work is an 



