158 TALKS AFIELD. 



world! He must now cultivate a critical ac- 

 quaintance with the violets of all countries, 

 and with them he must compare his plant. 

 He will look especially towards the violets 

 of certain countries, knowing that the flora 

 of his region resembles some foreign floras 

 more than others. If he lives in the North- 

 ern United States, he will look especially at 

 Arctic American or Northern European or 

 Eastern Asian species. Having satisfied him- 

 self that the violet has never been named in 

 any country, he must next describe it. This 

 is a difficult task. He must be able to seize 

 upon the permanent features of the plant 

 and to describe them in a concise and accu- 

 rate manner : he must describe the plant so 

 accurately as to distinguish it unmistakably 

 from all other violets. Next comes the 

 naming of the plant, which is a compara- 

 tively easy matter. The first name will be 

 Viola, the generic name of the violets. The 

 second or specific name must be one which 

 is not applied to any other violet. It could 

 not be called Viola blanda, " sweet violet," 

 because Willdenow long ago used that name ; 

 neither could it be called Viola rotundifolia, 

 " round-leaved violet," as Michaux has used 

 the name. The specific name must agree 



