114 APRIL 



nor yet that it should serve merely to mark the 

 labels in a herbarium. The titles should express 

 the origin, chief qualities, or points of difference of 

 genera and species, with all the precision and melody 

 of the Latin tongue. Take the beautiful family of 

 Iris as an instance : the two native species are satis- 

 factorily named the common yellow flag, being 

 known as Iris pseudacorus, that is, the flag-like iris ; 

 and the gladdon or wood iris as Iris foetidissima 

 the stinking iris, a title fairly earned by the evil 

 odour of the leaves. But when I take up a list of 

 new species of Iris from the East, the first to catch 

 the eye is one described as having 'long grassy 

 foliage and pale sulphur flowers,' surely hardly suffi- 

 cient reason for naming it Iris Grant-Duffi \ To 

 another species from the Holy Land has been 

 assigned a title from a higher source than an ex- 

 Governor of Madras, for it is prettily called Iris 

 Marice ; and a third, from the same country, seems 

 to have been rescued from the terrible name of Iris 

 Bismarckiana, for it is now to be distinguished as 

 Nazariensis. That is fitting enough ; but fresh 

 horrors lie in wait over the page, for here is a lovely 

 species 'with large, white flowers, and a beautiful 

 butterfly-like blotch on the falls,' and what think 



