January 6, 1909 99 
“Taxonomic thought rounds its broadest conceptions when 
its conclusions are based upon the aggregate of individuals 
within natural groups, and embody ontogenetic procedure, en- 
vironmental relations, heredity, evolutionary change and com- 
parative functional performance. So organized it might rightly 
lay claim to being ‘philosophical botany,’ and would include an 
orderly arrangement of all knowledge of plants, and would form 
the basis upon which all researches might be founded.” 
“Taxonomic practice is quite another matter; hampered as 
it is by an outworn and mediaeval method of giving names to 
living organisms, it is doubtful as to how far we might demand 
of it that it discriminate among the many degrees of relation- 
ship which reveal themselves in capacities and performonce as 
well as in refinements of form, The more thoroughly and accu- 
rately however, that it takes into account the total sum of the 
attributes, qualities and capacities of the plant, the greater will 
be the value of its conclusions, and the greater will be the ser- 
vice it may render to coordinate branches of botanical science.” 
Professor Clements begins with “Past and Present Practice 
in Species-making.” 
“Hyen a casual survey,of the practice in species-making 
during a century or more shows little or no uniformity of cri- 
teria or results. A comparison of methods in the different plant 
groups is even more striking. This lack of uniformity is found 
not only in the work of botanists in general, but even in the 
work of the same botanist. The consequences in the form of 
unequal and invalid species have been almost innumerable.” 
“Asa pioneer in evolution, Lamarck gave a definition of 
the species, which would be expected to warrant more than pas- 
sing interest. He defined a species as a ‘collection of similar 
individuals which are perpetuated in the same conditions as long 
as their environment is not changed sufficiently to bring about 
variation in. their habits, their character or their form.’ It 1s 
clear that the whole value of this definition depends upon the 
