October 28, iniO] 



SCIENCE 



595 



seem to have been considered by the congress. 

 Without some method of fixing once for all 

 the types of genera and species, we can see no 

 possible hope of securing any great degree of 

 uniformity or stability in the use of plant 

 names, especially those applied to the fungi. 

 As the writer has pointed out in another 

 place,^ generic names even when applied to 

 monotypes have been and are at present trans- 

 ferred from the original species to another 

 species or group of species without hesitation. 

 There would seem to be little justification or 

 excuse for such a procedure in the case of 

 monotypic genera, but in many other cases 

 where genera are composed of heterogeneous 

 groups of species, as so frequently happens, 

 owing to our lack of exact knowledge of the 

 morphology and biology of the organisms, the 

 segregation of such groups of species by dif- 

 ferent authors, very naturallj' leads to quite 

 different results in the application of the 

 original generic name or names. A generic 

 name may be applied by one author to the 

 largest group of the species which he regards 

 as congeneric, by another, on account of per- 

 sonal preference or some other method of pro- 

 cedure, to some other species or group of 

 species, so that without some provision or 

 method of fixing once for all the generic name 

 to some single species as its type, it would 

 seem impossible to attain any great degree of 

 stability or uniformity in the application of 

 plant names. 



If the purpose of the rules is to attempt to 

 avoid change and to conform to " present 

 usage," whatever that may mean, the only pro- 

 vision likely to accomplish it is that which 

 provides for the adoptation of a list of nomena 

 conservanda. This provision nullifies all the 

 rules and makes it possible to adopt any name 

 which may be preferred by the congress. 

 With such a list of names open for the addi- 

 tion of others it might at first be thought 

 that it would be possible to satisfy all inter- 

 ested. 



Without considering the possibility that per- 

 ' Shear, C. L., •' The Present Treatment of 

 Monotypic Gener.-i of Fungi," Bull. Tort: Bot. 

 Club, 36: 147-1.51, 1909. 



sonal preferences might influence the selection 

 of the names to be included in such a list, 

 there would still be great difficulty in decid- 

 ing what names are entitled to adoption. 

 Admitting, however, for the sake of argument, 

 that these difficulties are imaginary and that 

 we have a list of genera and species agreeable 

 to all, there is still not likely to be much hope 

 for uniformity in the use of the names, as 

 difl'erent authors deriving their concepts of 

 genera from different descriptions, interpre- 

 tations or authorities, will still apply them 

 differently. This may seem very improbable 

 to those who are only familiar with the tax- 

 onomy of the flowering plants, which are so 

 well known and understood, that it is not 

 often that a heterogeneous group of species 

 belonging to three or four or more different 

 genera are found confused under one name, 

 as is quite frequently the case among the' 

 fungi. This condition of affairs makes it 

 practically impossible to secure uniformity in 

 the use of nomena conservanda until some 

 type method is adopted and each generic name- 

 firmly fixed to one species with which it must 

 always be associated. 



It would appear that the congress might 

 have studied, with profit, the rules which have- 

 been formulated and published by the inter- 

 national zoologists who have advanced further 

 in their solution of the problems of nomen- 

 clature than most of the botanists. The zo- 

 ologists have recognized the fundamental im- 

 portance of the type method and have adopted 

 it. 



The fact that the problems of nomenclature 

 have assumed sufficient importance to be con- 

 sidered by international congresses should 

 perhaps sustain our hope for further progress, 

 especially when we recognize that such mat- 

 ters are subject to the general laws of evolu- 

 tion and education and that perfection can 

 not be attained at a single bound, but must 

 be approximated only and that by slow and' 

 tedious steps. There is no doubt, however^ 

 that we are slowly progressing in these mat- 

 ters and that we shall eventually evolve order 

 out of the present chaos. 



C. L. She.ui 



