1858] AizoiDES. 433 



-as -at -amus -atis -ant. This may be true. He subsequently 

 adds, " Is it uot therefore much more probable^ nay^ even certain, 

 that he wrote it spicans (from the participle of the present tense, 

 used as an adjective), and that the ' s' was written, as it very fre- 

 quently is nowadays, like a ' t/ carelessly, and the error thus pro- 

 pagated ?" The great Linneeus has received the credit, and, it may 

 be added, the homage of posterity, for some things which he did 

 not do, for changes which he did not make. Like many reformers, 

 who leave some things as they are because the people are used 

 to them, 'Linngeus retained much in his nomenclature which he 

 merely found ready to his hand. It may safely be asserted that 

 this name, Sxncant, is one of these, not one of Linnseus's making. 

 It may further be affirmed, that as several editions of the ' Species 

 Plantarum ' were published during the life of the author, it is 

 surely quite as absurd that the great linguist and botanist never 

 corrected this blunder, but allowed it to pass muster during so 

 many years. Still more wonderful is it that Sprengel, Willdenow, 

 and other great men who have been engaged on the work where 

 this term appears, and who of course had access to all the edi- 

 tions, have never challenged it. I have consulted several editions, 

 both prior to and posterior to the author's death, and I have in- 

 variably seen Spicant. Spicilegus. 



AIZOIDES.* 



{From a Correspondent.) 



" Audivi dudum ciun risu a pliilosopliis, etc., objici aides istiid, ut quamprimum 

 viderint libruin botanicum, licet botanices panim guari, ausi fuerint certare se dig- 

 num judicium in autiiorem datm-os : evolverunt modo indicem, et si observarint 

 plura nomina in aides, etc., mox enu.nciarunt euin non esse botanicum sed hatani- 

 coidetn." — Ex Linnsei Critica Bot., p. 34. 



Subjoined is an attempt to answer the following question, — 

 " Sir, — Can any of your readers inform me of the true derivation 

 of aizoides ? " The gist of the question is stated by the epithet 

 true. J. B. presumes it to be from ate^weiS?;?, viz. resembling 

 the aei^coov, or Houseleek. Nobody Avill dispute this ; and the 

 natural or literal or verbal sense of the term is equally indispu- 

 table, viz. that aet is semper, or always, or ever; and ^coov is, in 

 Latin, vivum, or living. Again, the term Sempervivum, whereby 

 * See Phytologist, vol. ii. p. 359. 



N. S. VOL. II. 3 K 



