I 5 8 NATURAL SCIENCE. March, 



indicated by such plants as a Patsvsonia, two species of Coprosma, a 

 species of Pratia, and others. 



The Troubles of a Missionary. 



As everyone knows, scientific people, from Darwin down to the 

 merest collectors of bugs, have been indebted in many ways to 

 missionaries ; for these go to the uttermost parts of the earth, see 

 much of the natives, and have opportunities for collecting, of which 

 they have availed themselves to the great benefit of science. But there 

 is another side to the question. We have received from a corres- 

 pondent the following extract from the letter of a missionary : — 



" Whether it is due to the Board Schools, or to the improvement 

 in the mail service all over the world during recent years, I think 

 modern missionaries ought to be deeply pitied for the great amount 

 of time and patience they have to expend in writing answers to letters 

 which the old missionaries could never have been bothered with. 

 People write from all parts to say they sympathise with us — will we 

 give them an account of the country in which we live. They write 

 to say they pray for us — will we write and tell them what we are 

 doing. They write and say they are interested in moss, ferns, 

 orchids, beetles, snakes — will we collect, preserve, and bottle a few 

 specimens, and in this way further the interests of Science. It takes 

 three minutes to write questions that it would take a day to answer. 

 I think of filing all such letters for the future, and getting a few forms 

 printed off which will serve all purposes. Something after this style : — 

 ' I beg to acknowledge with | ^Se ) y our letter of , assuring 



/sympathy \ 



you that I value your - f^qlelts \ > ar *d that the subject you mention 



( interest I 



shall receive my careful attention when I find time hanging heavily 

 on my hands.' " 



We trust that our correspondent's friend will not carry out his 

 intention ; but scientific people would do well to be considerate in 

 their requests. 



Trinomial Nomenclature. 



We are glad to print "O. T." 's letter on this subject, as it gives 

 us an opportunity of explaining our views with more clearness than 

 we seem to have hitherto attained. " O. T.," we must first point out, 

 writes as a zoologist, while our note dealt with the matter professedly 

 from the standpoint of the botanist. The trinomial system, as 

 " O. T." clearly explains, is that " under which races, especially 

 geographical races, thought to be of less than specific rank, receive 

 distinctive Latin names in addition to their specific ones." Since the 

 system is applicable only to such races, and not to aberrations, indi- 

 vidual variations, and such like, it is clearly immaterial whether 

 " subsp." is or is not inserted between the second and third terms of 

 the series. The term " races," then, is, in the mind of " O. T.," 

 synonymous with the term " subspecies." This is all very well, and 



