ACCENTUATION, ABBREVIATIONS. 367 



nature of the publication will allow it. So likewise of species, 

 except where the source or signification of the name is mani- 

 fest. This is commonly the case as respects most characteristic 

 specific names, and also those drawn from station, habitat, and 

 the like. 



761. Accentuation of Names. The pronunciation of botanical 

 names is settled by the rules of Latin prosody. All that is 

 usually attempted in those botanical works which take this into 

 account is to mark the syllable upon which the principal accent 

 falls. This in words of two syllables is always the first ; in 

 words of three or more syllables, either the penult (the last sylla- 

 ble but one) or the antepenult (next preceding syllable) . When 

 the penult is a long syllable, it takes the accent ; when short, this 

 recedes to the antepenult. The accentuation may accordingly 

 be sufficiently indicated by marking the quantity of the penult, 

 either long as in Erica, or short as in Arbutus and Gladiolus. Or 

 else the accent may be marked by a proper sign, as Erica, Arbutus, 

 Gladiolus. An endeavor has been made to represent the longer 

 sound of the vowel b}' the grave accent-mark, as Erica, and the 

 short by the acute, as Gladiolus. But this plan is encumbered 

 with practical difficulties. 



762. Abbreviations are required, both of the name of the au- 

 thor, when of more than one or two syllables, and of the titles 

 of the works cited. There are also the customar}' abbreviations 

 in the citation of volume, page, plate, &c., in which there is 

 nothing peculiar to botany. 



763. The simple rule for the abbreviation of an author's name 

 is to abridge it of all but the first syllable and the first letter of the 

 following one (as Lam. for Lamarck, Hook, for Hooker), or the 

 first two letters following the vowel when both are consonants 

 (as Linn, for Linnaeus, Juss. for Jussieu, Rich, for Richard). 

 Sometimes more of the name must be given, in order to distin- 

 guish those beginning with the same syllable. So we write Michx. 

 to prevent confusion of the name Michaux with that of Micheli, 

 which, being the earlier, claims the abbreviation Mich., and 

 Bertol. to distinguish Bertoloni from Bertero. Sometimes a 

 much-used name of one syllable is abbreviated, as Br. (or R. 

 Br.} for Robert Brown. Initials or abbreviations of the bap- 

 tismal name are needed to distinguish botanists of the same 

 name ; as P. Browne in distinction from Robert Brown, Ach. 

 Rich., Adr. Jtiss., Alph. DC., to distinguish the younger from the 

 older Richard, Jussieu, and DeCandolle. Or, where father and 

 son, the abbreviation for the latter may be Juss.fL, Hook, f I., 

 or Hook, f., &c. Certain, but very few, well-known and eminent 



