2IO PROSERPINA. 



1 Orders,' literally like those of any religious or 

 chivalric association, having some common link 

 rather intellectual than national, — the Charites, for 

 instance, linked by their kindness, — the Oreiades, 

 by their mountain seclusion, as Sisters of Charity 

 or Monks of the Chartreuse, irrespective of ties 

 of relationship. Then beneath these orders will 

 come, what may be rightly called, either as above 

 in Greek derivation, ' Genera,' or in Latin, ' Gentes,' 

 for which, however, I choose the Latin word, 

 because Genus is disagreeably liable to be con- 

 fused on the ear with ' genius ' ; but Gens, never ; 

 and also ' nomen gentile ' is a clearer and better 

 expression than ' nomen generosum,' and I will 

 not coin the barbarous one, ' genericum.' The 

 name of the Gens, (as ' Lucia,') with an attached 

 epithet, as ' Verna,' will, in most cases, be enough 

 to characterize the individual flower ; but if farther 

 subdivision be necessary, the third order will be 

 that of Families, indicated by a ' nomen familiare ' 

 added in the third place of nomenclature, as Lucia 

 Verna, — Borealis ; and no farther subdivision will 

 ever be admitted. I avoid the word ' species ' — 

 originally a bad one, and lately vulgarized beyond 

 endurance — altogether. And varieties belonging to 

 narrow localities, or induced by horticulture, may 

 be named as they please by the people living near 



