258 ESSAYS. 



" Nasturtium, spec, ampMbium," and just as L. C. Richard 

 (a good model), in Michaux's Flora writes, Viburnum den- 

 tatum, var. a glabellum, ft semi-tomentosum. Rhus Toxico- 

 dendron, var. a vuhjare, fi quercifolium. 



The editor of the " Gardener's Chronicle " (March 22, p. 

 373), having put this kind of question to M. Alphonse De 

 Candolle (whom we should consider the highest living au- 

 thority upon nomenclatural matters), understands him to 

 reply that " the insertion of the abbreviation var. for varietas, 

 which is feminine, demands a feminine termination ; but if 

 the word var. be omitted, then the rule would be for the va- 

 riety to follow the specific name ; " — meaning probably the 

 generic name, for in one of the examples given, Thymus 

 Serpyllum, /? montanus, it does not follow the specific. 



From this point of view, namely : that where the nature of 

 the group (in this case variety) is expressed, the adjective 

 name should be feminine, but where only understood, it 

 mi^ht be masculine or neuter — we must commend the ed- 

 itor's closing remark : — 



"Perhaps the simplest and most easily recollected rule 

 would be to make the varietal name feminine in all cases, 

 whether the var. of varietas, were expressed, or understood. 

 This at least would be intelligible, and would conduce to uni- 

 formity of practice." 



It would also be logical, and the logic also would require 

 all specific names to be feminine ; for the word understood, 

 species, is feminine. 



Now we do not suppose that M. De Candolle would tolerate 

 a double set of genders for the names of varieties. His doc- 

 trine is that the " var. " should be discarded and the Greek 

 letters only employed, not only for numbering the varieties, 

 but for designating the fact that the name they are prefixed 

 to is a variety. 



It is not difficult to perceive why it has come to pass that 

 " English writers generally use the abbreviation var.," and 

 that some continental botanical writers follow the practice. 

 One reason is, that it enables us to cite an author's variety by 

 its name without having to concern ourselves with its Greek 

 number, whether it is ft or y or 8, which otherwise we should 



