52 NOMENCLATURE. 



himself, contrary to his own wise laws. Genera have 

 also been dedicated" to abundance of persons, who 

 have no claim to this honour. Corrupt names, com- 

 posed of other generic appellations, already establish- 

 ed, though strictly and judiciously prohibited by all 

 classical botanists, have here and there been intro- 

 duced. Of these the worst of all are made up of 

 two such established names as Calamagrostis. Future 

 general writers on Botany, of competent authority, 

 must reform these abuses. No authority can sanction 

 their continuance. If any indulgence be admitted, it 

 may perhaps be in favour of a few well-sounding ge- 

 neric names of barbarous origin ; for there can be no 

 question that Pliny, and even purer Latin writers, 

 would have adopted such names, properly modified, 

 had they treated of the new plants of foreign coun- 

 tries. 



The generic name being fixed, each Species must 

 also be designated by an appropriate concise appel- 

 lation, of a single word if possible. This should be 

 either a characteristic adjective, expressive of the cha- 

 racter, aspect, colour, quality, or use of the Species ; 

 or of some substantive, not necessarily agreeing in gen- 

 der with the generic name, and therefore always be- 

 ginning with a capital letter, by which some circum- 

 stance in the history of the plant, or some synonym, 

 may be recorded. 



Important or permanent Varieties f74) may, with 

 propriety, be noticed. These are conveniently marked 



