﻿iSpO-J 
  BOTANICAL 
  GAZETTE. 
  hi 
  

  

  ses 
  there 
  given. 
  When 
  Cooke 
  and 
  Maasee 
  describe 
  a 
  Gloeosporium 
  on 
  

   cultivated 
  Pelargoniums 
  in 
  three 
  lines, 
  who 
  can 
  believe 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  ade- 
  

   quately 
  characterized 
  ? 
  When 
  that 
  species 
  is 
  found 
  on 
  wild 
  Pelargoniums, 
  

   as 
  it 
  well 
  may 
  be, 
  does 
  anyone 
  think 
  that 
  it 
  will 
  be 
  easily 
  identified? 
  

   Will 
  it 
  not 
  rather 
  necessitate 
  a 
  painful 
  expenditure 
  of 
  time, 
  and 
  perhaps 
  

   even 
  then 
  (should 
  the 
  type 
  specimens 
  be 
  lost) 
  have 
  to 
  be 
  relegoted 
  to 
  the 
  

   limbo 
  of 
  "species 
  non 
  satis 
  notse" 
  ? 
  The 
  case 
  has 
  many 
  parallels. 
  

  

  Again, 
  he 
  suffers 
  from 
  the 
  description 
  of 
  imperfect 
  material. 
  Mitten 
  

   sees 
  two 
  stems 
  of 
  a 
  Hypnum 
  in 
  Douglas's 
  collection 
  and 
  describes 
  it 
  as 
  a 
  

   new 
  species! 
  with 
  the 
  remark 
  that 
  it 
  may 
  be 
  an 
  already 
  described 
  epe- 
  

   ciesl 
  Austin 
  receives 
  a 
  sterile 
  Hypnum 
  from 
  Colorado, 
  and 
  describes 
  it 
  

   as 
  a 
  new 
  species, 
  comparing 
  it 
  with 
  four 
  others 
  in 
  widely 
  separated 
  sec- 
  

   tions 
  of 
  the 
  genus! 
  Kindberg 
  finds 
  a 
  moss 
  in 
  Macoun's 
  collections, 
  and 
  

   though 
  he 
  is 
  unable 
  to 
  determine 
  to 
  which 
  of 
  two 
  very 
  unlike 
  genera 
  it 
  

   belongs, 
  describes 
  it 
  as 
  a 
  new 
  species! 
  Examples 
  might 
  be 
  multiplied. 
  

  

  Again, 
  he 
  is 
  exasperated 
  by 
  description 
  by 
  comparison. 
  For 
  ex- 
  

   ample, 
  Kindberg 
  recently 
  describes 
  a 
  Bryum, 
  of 
  which 
  he 
  had 
  neither 
  

   inflorescence 
  nor 
  fruit, 
  in 
  five 
  or 
  six 
  lines, 
  and 
  by 
  comparing 
  it 
  with 
  a 
  

   well-known 
  species, 
  to 
  which 
  he 
  imagines 
  it 
  allied. 
  - 
  Now 
  no 
  finite 
  intel- 
  

   ligence 
  can 
  determine 
  the 
  affinity 
  of 
  a 
  Bryum 
  by 
  leaves 
  alone 
  ; 
  and 
  when 
  

   over 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  points 
  of 
  comparison 
  are 
  within 
  the 
  known 
  range 
  of 
  va- 
  

   riation 
  of 
  the 
  older 
  species, 
  we 
  must 
  conclude 
  that 
  the 
  description 
  is 
  of 
  

   httle 
  use 
  except 
  to 
  legalize 
  a 
  name. 
  Such 
  names 
  are 
  only 
  incumbrances, 
  

   not 
  helps. 
  His 
  alleged 
  description 
  is 
  too 
  brief, 
  purely 
  comparative, 
  and 
  

   based 
  on 
  entirely 
  insufficient 
  material. 
  It 
  is 
  a 
  type 
  of 
  all 
  that 
  is 
  bad 
  in 
  its 
  

   line. 
  Let 
  us 
  hope 
  that 
  the 
  species 
  makers 
  will 
  cease 
  

  

  Giving 
  diagnoses 
  instead 
  of 
  descriptions; 
  

  

  Comparing 
  a 
  new 
  species 
  with 
  an 
  old, 
  except 
  as 
  a 
  supplement 
  to 
  a 
  

   full 
  description 
  ; 
  and 
  

  

  Naming 
  material 
  which 
  is 
  only 
  fit 
  to 
  be 
  shelved 
  till 
  it 
  is 
  completed 
  

   by 
  further 
  discovery. 
  

  

  CURRENT 
  LITERATURE. 
  

  

  Xbe 
  :Neiv 
  manual.^ 
  

  

  For 
  some 
  years 
  previous 
  to 
  his 
  death, 
  Professor 
  Gray 
  had 
  in 
  contem- 
  

   plation 
  a 
  revision 
  of 
  his 
  popular 
  text-books, 
  the 
  Lessons, 
  Manual 
  and 
  

   Field, 
  Forest 
  and 
  Garden 
  Botany, 
  all 
  of 
  which 
  were 
  out 
  of 
  date, 
  and, 
  the 
  

  

  ^Maaual 
  of 
  the 
  botany 
  of 
  the 
  Nort&ern 
  United 
  States, 
  incluaing 
  the 
  district 
  east 
  of 
  

   the 
  Mississippi 
  aad 
  north 
  of 
  North 
  Caroliaa 
  and 
  Tennessee. 
  By 
  Asa 
  Gray, 
  late 
  Fisher 
  

   Professor 
  of 
  natural 
  history 
  in 
  Harvard 
  University. 
  Sixth 
  edition, 
  revised 
  and 
  extended 
  

   westward 
  to 
  the 
  100th 
  meridian, 
  by 
  Sereno 
  Watson, 
  curator 
  of 
  the 
  Gray 
  Herbarium, 
  Har- 
  

   vard 
  University, 
  and 
  John 
  M. 
  Coulter. 
  Professor 
  of 
  Botany 
  in 
  Wabash 
  College; 
  assisted 
  

   by 
  specialists 
  in 
  certain 
  groups. 
  Ivison. 
  Blakeman 
  & 
  Co.. 
  New 
  York 
  and 
  Chicago. 
  1890. 
  

   Octavo, 
  pp. 
  760, 
  with 
  25 
  plates 
  illustrating 
  the 
  sedges, 
  grasses, 
  ferns, 
  etc. 
  

  

  