4 
155 
from this. To the specific epithet, apart from its proper function, 
Linneus attached no importance at al e saw that the scientific 
problem was to get the species into its right genus. “Nomen 
specificum sine generico est quasi pistillum sine campana.” The 
specific name taken alone is the clapper without the bell. A 
Linnean name, then, though it consists of two parts, must be treated 
asa whole. “Nomen omne plantarum constabit nomine generico et 
specifico.” And the same principle obviously applies to all names 
constructed in accordance with Linnean rules. e supposed appeal 
“The real merit of Linneus has been to combine, for all plants, the 
generic name with the specific epithet.” 
ii, But the claim for justice works the greatest injustice, and it is 
not even tempered with mercy. Any careless or incompetent 
botanist can tack on a blundering name to an undescribed plant, 
and his blunder with his name attached is to be handed down to 
posterity for all time. As Linneus saw, the real scientific feat is 
to discover its true affinity, not to give it a haphazard label. And 
the author who does this successfully is the one whose insight 
deserves commemoration. It is impossible not to agree with Sir 
Joseph Hooker when he says: “I regard the naturalist who puts a 
described plant into its proper position in regard to its allies as 
rendering a greater service to science than its describer when he 
either puts it into a wrong place or throws it into any of those 
chaotic heaps, miscalled genera, with which systematic works still 
abound.” 3 
iii. Every revision of the contents of an order involves a re- 
he expenses of preparation 
section of Volume fv. have an m th 
overnments of Cape Colony and Natal. The Government of 
he Transvaal has not hitherto been associated with the work. — It 
