54 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 289. 



the Golden Russet with just as great facil- 

 ity and certainty as he can now determine 

 Ranunculus septentrionalis or Trilliam viridi- 

 florum. For the garden name of the apple, 

 Ehode Island does very well, but for its 

 botanical designation the Latinized name 

 of the last fairly marked form ofPyrus Mains, 

 or whatever the species may be called, is 

 wanted. In the case of Cystopteris and An- 

 dropogon, already referred to, this would be 

 given by either the trinomial Cystopteris fra- 

 gilis angustata or C. eufragilis angustata, in 

 the one case, and Andropogon sorghum niger 

 or A. eusorghum niger in the other; but the 

 actual position of either is indicated only by 

 saying Cystopteris fragilis eufragilis pinnatipar- 

 tita angustata, for the one, and Andropogon sor- 

 ghum (sp. coll.) sorghum eusorghum obovatus 

 niger, for the other. I fear that the true 

 expression of the facts in many genera, 

 under the present system, would be likely 

 to result either in a polynomial as long as 

 those used before Linnseus' somewhat ar- 

 bitrary but masterly and helpful simplifica- 

 tion of nomenclature, and without the de- 

 scriptive value of the old phrases, or in the 

 erection of genera nearly on the lines of the 

 Linnsean species. 



Either of these results is unpleasant to 

 contemplate, and we may well inquire if 

 they represent the only possible solutions 

 of the problem of even a much finer specific 

 differentiation than is now prevalent. A 

 generation ago the best botanists would not 

 have looked with favor on a proposal to 

 separate species on as fine lines as the more 

 con.«ervative botanists now see to be logical 

 as well as desirable. Perhaps the botanists 

 of to-day may not be prepared for even as 

 radical a change as the separate nomen- 

 clature of collective species, species, sub- 

 species, and varieties has already brought 

 to them ; but I am not sure that the botan- 

 ists of the next generation will not carry 

 out a simplification of the present system 

 — which by that time promises to be most 



unwieldy — that shall be quite as helpful as 

 that which won Linnaeus the gratitude of 

 his followers and which we could not do 

 without in the present state of the science. 

 I have been tempted to enlarge on this 

 point and to exemplify the idea that I have, 

 by a concrete illustration based on some 

 genus of plants in which the number of 

 minute forms to be distinguished is already 

 very large ; but I shall content myself by 

 saying that the idea that I have of such a 

 reform is strongly foreshadowed in the 

 practice already introduced of binomially 

 designating collective species and subspecies 

 as well as species ; and it goes so far as the 

 employment of binomials down to one re- 

 move from the ultimate subdivisions of 

 cultivated plants designated by vernacular 

 names. For many writers on the broader 

 facts of plant distribution and plant proper- 

 ties, the Linnsean conception of species is 

 and will be sufiScient, and alone applicable. 

 For such persons, for instance, the name 

 Cystopteris fragilis or Andropogon sorghum is 

 satisfactory. The necessary degree of sub- 

 division will always vary according to the 

 particular purpose and knowledge of the 

 writer who may care to go further than 

 this. For one, Cystopteris eufragilis will be 

 sufficient ; for another, C. pinnatipartita or 

 an equivalent binomial ; for another, G. 

 angustata ; while still another may find it 

 desirable to specify by not to exceed a tri- 

 nomial a subdivision of the latter of perhaps 

 three or four degrees removal. The prac- 

 tical result that I foresee, then, is the ulti- 

 mate uniform establishment of species of 

 several grades, each binomially designated 

 and its grade, perhaps, indicated by typo- 

 graphical means or the employment of a 

 brief symbol connected with the name, un- 

 less, after the present nomenclature storm 

 shall have blown by, as it surely will before 

 this point is reached, it be indicated by the 

 adoption of uniform endings for the specific 

 names of each grade. 



