4 PITTONIA. 
naming of the Dipsacus species? "The rule is one which 
would reverse the decisions of all the most learned and crit- 
ical botanists of botany's most important century cycle. And 
the reason for the Millerian nomenclature of the species, 
that which brought it out in the first place, and has gained 
for it such almost universal adoption by botanists is, that it 
is necessary to repudiate such recklessness of principle as 
Liunsus manifested when he took the specific name fullo- 
num away from the plant which had borne it for ages, and 
applied it to one which fullers had never used, which had 
never been called fullonum, but had always had another 
name. It was as bad a transaction as if, for example, a man 
bent upon lumping together as one species, Malus coronaria, 
the wild crab apple, and M. communis, the orchard kind, 
perversely taking the wild kind for his type should name 
it M. communis, and then reduce the orchard kind to that 
as a variety, under the name M. communis var. coronaria. 
It is safe to say that no author living would tolerate such an 
exact transposition of the two names coronaria and communis. 
It is running too diametrically counter to the plainest com- 
mon sense. But it is just this wildness of folly on the part 
of Linneeus which has caused that repudiation of his Dipsa- 
cus fullonum, which any one may see has been almost uni- 
versal. In the Check List, by a very easy piece of legerde- 
main, the thing is put, not as Linnsus put it, but as he 
ought to have done, and then he is credited as having so 
done it! This is in violation not only of the Rochester 
Code, but of every other, not omitting the universal prin- 
ciples of truthfulness and common sense. 
Let me here indicate that, while preparing the Manual 
already referred to, though I decided upon following the 
Millerian nomenclature for the time being, I nevertheless did 
not fail to see that this would be in violation of one article 
in the Rochester Code which I most heartily approve, that 
of the rejection of all homonyms. Certainly Dipsacus ful- 
lonum, Mill, is a homonym of the D. fullonum, Linn. And 
