ipis] IN SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 61 



that the first thought of some particularists appears to be a desire 

 to see whether it is possible to change the names. 



Nor am I yet ready to leave this subject. From a successful 

 and sincere public lecturer, who is trying to lead the people to a 

 knowledge of animals and plants, I had a request for aid containing 

 the statement that he could devote only a little time daily " to the 

 study of Latin and I want to get only a sufficient knowledge of it 

 to enable me to know why the gipsy moth is called {Porthetria 

 dispar L.) and whether Raphamus raphanistrum means a plant, an 

 insect or a tribe of elephants." This person, of course, had not had 

 a college training in these particular subjects, but he is not ignorant 

 or inattentive. He writes that he has about 2,000 bulletins, many 

 bound volumes and a special cyclopedia, nearly all of which material 

 is classified, using a card-index. " It has taken a lot of work to do 

 this but as I can spare from farm labor only about an hour each 

 day for study I find the index is a great time saver by showing me 

 just where to find what I want." This man will accomplish much 

 with his methods of contact. But consider the position of this man 

 if to a complicated system of nomenclature we add a continuous 

 tendency to change; and I think it is fairly our obligation to con- 

 sider his position. 



When we feel within us the desire to change the names of 

 genera and groups, let us think well of this man and his carefully 

 considered hour, — what it would mean to him in cross-referencing, 

 in indexing, in the readjusting of his work. If it is to bring new 

 knowledge that we cannot so well record otherwise or indispensable 

 definitions, very good ; but the burden of proof always rests on the 

 new name. The work with names is fascinating, even captivating, 

 and every change identifies the worker with it ; but we are not to 

 forget that some of this work is likely to be of the kind that, in 

 other fields, might be called pedantry. 



Bear with me further while I call your attention to the fact that 

 we are not only changing our plant names with apparent disregard 

 of the users of them, but that we are also making them more com- 

 plicated. To the name of the plant, — genus and species, — we add 

 the authority. We now omit the punctuation and thereby make the 



