16 Muhlenbergia, Volume 3 
county. It seems to us that when a botanist undertakes to de- 
scribe plants from a country with the geography of which he is 
totally unfamiliar, he should consult a reliable atlas, or at least 
give the data on the labels and nothing more. 
If the work were a monograph with complete and accurate 
keys, the short descriptions might suffice, but there are no keys, 
and we fear that if the new species and varieties are to be rec- 
ognized at all, it is because in most cases numbered specimens 
from well-known collections are cited as the types. There are 
also some deliberately coined homonyms. On page 186 occurs 
E. alatum var. Macdougali, while £. Macdougalizt appears on 
page 191; £. “anemophyllum” Greene, var. Cusickiz, page 186, 
and £. Cusickiz, page 183; &. nevadense, page 188, £. ovalifol- 
tum var. nevadense, page 193, and £. umbellatum var. neva- 
dense, page 188; E. Cusickit var. californicum, page 198, and 
E vimineum vat. californicum, page 199. Should the plants 
which these homonyms represent prove worthy of names, there 
is an opportunity for some American botanist to assign other 
names to them, as well as fully describe them. 
