CHAPTER VI. 



NOMENCLATURE. 



" I do not think more credit is due to a man for defining a species, than 

 to a carpenter for making a box." 



Charles Darwin, Life and Letters^ Vol. I., p. 371. 



Any attempt to discuss at length the difficult and thorny 

 question of nomenclature would be entirely out of place in an 

 elementary book on fossil plants, but there are certain important 

 points to which it may be well to draw attention. When a 

 student enters the field of independent research, he is usually 

 but imperfectly acquainted with the principles of nomenclature 

 which should be followed in palaeontological work. After 

 losing himself in a maze of endless synonyms and confused 

 terminology, he recognises the desirability of adopting some 

 definite and consistent plan in his method of naming genera and 

 species. It is extremely probable that whatever system is made 

 use of, it will be called in question by some critics as not being 

 in strict conformity with accepted rules. The opportunities for 

 criticism in matters relating to nomenclature are particularly 

 numerous, and the critic who may be but imperfectly 

 familiar with the subject-matter of a scientific work is not 

 slow to avail himself of some supposed eccentricity on the part 

 of the author in the manner of terminology. The true value of 

 work may be obscured by laying too much emphasis on the 

 imperfections of a somewhat heterodox nomenclature. On the 

 other hand good systematic work is often seriously spoilt by 

 a want of attention to generally accepted rules in naming 

 and defining species. It is essential that those who take up 



