282 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 347. 



the anomaly that now exists in such spe- 

 cifics as Berberis Canadensis and Cercis Cana- 

 densis — neither of the plants mentioned oc- 

 curring beyond the Carolinian zone — results 

 from the ignorance of geography displayed 

 by the Old- World botanists of that day j 

 frequently it is due to the great political 

 changes that have taken place in this 

 country during the last one hundred and 

 fifty years. Even in modern times it is a 

 common occurrence for a species to receive 

 its designation from the State in which it 

 was first discovered ; and the fact that it 

 may subsequently be found to extend into 

 many other States has never been consid- 

 ered a sufficient reason for renaming it. 

 But what are we to say of Asdepias Syriaca, 

 which is exclusively an American milk- 

 weed ? Decaisne promptly renamed it As- 

 depias Cornuti, and in this he was followed 

 by Gray and other botanists. There are 

 several writers of the present day who 

 favor the alteration of names that state a 

 geographical untruth. 



A large number of genera, dedicated to 

 individuals, have been incorrectly spelled, 

 either through the author's ignorance or 

 the compositor's blunder. Examples are 

 ISTuttall's Wisteria, dedicated to Dr. Wistar ; 

 Brown's Lechenaultia, named for Leschen- 

 ault ; and Kafinesque's Scoria, published as 

 a misprint for Hicoria. De Candoile's rule 

 in this connection was : ^' When a name is 

 drawn from a modern language it is to be 

 maintained just as it was made, even in the 

 case of the spelling having been misunder- 

 stood by the author, and justly deserving 

 to be criticized." Dr. Gray considered this 

 rule too absolute, and admitted corrections 

 not only of orthography, but also of errors 

 in the construction of names of Latin or 

 Greek derivation. If the eminent botanist 

 of Harvard University were alive to-day 

 it is to be feared that a large portion of his 

 time would have to be devoted to this work 

 if he wished to thoroughly revise the no- 



menclatorial output of the present gener- 

 ation. 



3. Names falsely constructed. — This includes 

 words derived from modern languages with- 

 out adaptation to the Latin or Greek form, 

 and those compounded of elements from 

 two or more languages. The writings of- 

 Adanson and Necker are full of generic ex- 

 amples of the latter type, and many of 

 these have been taken up under the oper- 

 ation of the law of priority. Of the Adan- 

 sonian names Ananas, Sesban, Cajan, Sabal, 

 Konig, Gansblum, and Rulac it will be ob- 

 served that none are in strictly correct 

 Latin form, and with the exception of Konig 

 and Gansblum they are all, I believe, of un- 

 known derivation. It might naturally be 

 inferred that the whole list should stand or 

 fall alike ; yet the curious inconsistency is 

 found, that while Sabal has been accepted 

 by botanists of every school for several gen- 

 erations, and while Cajan, Sesban2in& Ananas 

 have been taken up under the Rochester code 

 and are adopted by all its followers, the mere 

 suggestion of Rulac, Gansblum or Konig as 

 generic possibilities is received with amuse- 

 ment or contempt by the average botanist. 



Before discussing these latter cases in de- 

 tail, however, let us refer to the other class 

 in my third category, consisting of so-called 

 hybrid names constructed of elements from 

 two distinct languages. Of these, modern 

 botanical literature is furnishing a rich and 

 ever-increasing store of examples. They 

 may consist : (1) Of Greek terminations 

 welded upon Latin nouns or vice versa, re- 

 sulting in such products as ' graminoides ' 

 or the still more remarkable ' cenchrus- 

 oides.' (2) They may be compound ad- 

 jectives, of which one element is Greek, 

 the other Latin ; this type is well illustrated 

 by ' pseudocaudatum,' ' polyclavatum ' and 

 ' magnasora, ' all of which have been recently 

 published in the same journal. (3) Per- 

 sonal generic titles composed of an English 

 proper name with a classical adjective used. 



