456 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [ DECEMBER 
specialized or differentiated recognizably from anything else of 
the same genus, family, or order ; an individual which differs, or 
collectively those individuals which differ, specifically from all 
the other members of the genus, etc., and which do not differ from 
one another in size, shape, color, and so on, beyond the limits 
of (actual or assumed) individual variability, as those animals 
and plants which stand in the direct relation of parent and off- 
spring, and perpetuate certain inherited characters intact or with 
that little modification which is due to conditions and environ- 
ment.” The Standard Dictionary defines a species as ‘a classifi- 
catory group of animals or plants subordinate to a genus, and 
having members that differ among themselves only in minor 
details of proportion and color, and are capable of fertile inter- 
breeding indefinitely.” Webster is as follows: ‘In science, a 
more or less permanent group of existing things or beings, 
associated according to attributes, or properties determined by 
scientific observation.” Stormonth’s English Dictionary says that 
a species is ‘‘a group of individuals or objects sufficiently iden- 
tical in all their natural qualities to justify the conclusion that 
they may have sprung from a common stock.” 
In all these definitions the idea of genetic continuity seems to 
be fundamental, and in this respect they are not greatly unlike the 
definitions which were current in pre-Darwinian times. They all 
seem to be descendants of Cuvier’s conception that a species 1S 
“the reunion of individuals descended from one another, or from 
common parents, or from such as resemble them as closely a5 
they resemble each other.” This really amounts to little more 
than Linnzus’ phrase, ‘We reckon as many species as there 
were forms created in the beginning.” 
Although we are driven to abandon the conception that the 
immediate forms of life are the units in the organic creation, We 
must nevertheless arrive at our knowledge of this creation by 
means of these forms. It is these forms which we take hold of 
when we study nature. They are the tangible objects with which 
we deal. Then they should be described and named; but the 
important point is that the forms of life serve as a convenient 
