64: BAILEY— SOME PRESENT NEEDS [April 23, 



While there is more hope in the standardizing of genera than of 

 species, it is within the possibilities to arrive at some kind of agree- 

 ment on specific values, but this is not to be expected as a result 

 of codification or regulation: it must be a real agreement by men 

 who are brought together on a new kind of study of a common 

 line of problems. 



As I have already indicated, I would not expect or even desire 

 a dead uniformity of treatment in any range of systematic work, 

 and least of all in species. It would be a great misfortune to lose 

 the expression of personality in even such formal work as this. 

 But there is need of a closer understanding as to the essential facts 

 in the treatment of the members of a genus. If one were to look 

 over Erythrina, for example, one would find about 50 species recog- 

 nized, native in warm countries in the two hemispheres ; and while 

 there is much uncertainty as to the characters of given species, 

 one would not find very wide disagreement between the difl^erent 

 authors. If next one were to look on Eschscholtzia, one would find 

 a wholly different state of things, notwithstanding the fact that this 

 genus is confined to western North America. Gray saw about a 

 dozen species in this genus ; Greene, with more material to work 

 on, saw 112 species; and Fedde sees 123. Jepson, who has studied 

 them with care in the field, is not able to see a great number of 

 species, although he finds numberless seasonal and other forms ; 

 and he does not see much hope in solving the Eschscholtzia puzzle 

 by the usual study of herbarium material but rather by " combined 

 field and cultural studies." 



And here is the particular suggestion I desired to make in the 

 writing of this paper, — that a few groups be worked out very care- 

 fully by growing the plants under observation and as far as possible 

 under conditions of control and always, of course, in comparison 

 with living feral material. Such studies might require some years, 

 even in a relatively small group: very good — the results would be 

 all the more convincing. If a half dozen groups could be worked 

 over in this way, with discussion of the living material by standing 

 committees of some recognized association, we should very likely 

 arrive at a basis of judgment such as the present collecting and inci- 



