43 



Linnacan name Cactus should be applied. The expression 

 of such erratic views of classification in a nonienclator intended 

 for general use is unfortunate, almost as much so as the peculiar 

 results which spring from the application of the code of nomen- 

 clature adopted as a basis for the work. 



This code, termed by Dr. Kuntze his " Codex brevis maturus," 

 and intended for presentation at the Vienna Congress in 1905, 

 was published in advance of the Lexicon, with commentaries, 

 from which extracts have already appeared in Torreya.* By a 

 happy inspiration, these "inevitably polemic" commentaries are 

 here omitted, with the explanation that they " shall not be in- 

 serted into the Lexicon to make it free from polemic . . . any- 

 one who likes polemic can easily buy it." The chief character- 

 istics of the code which affect the nomenclature of the Lexicon 

 are the adoption of the year 1737 as the starting-point for gen- 

 era, and the freedom with which the spelling of generic names 

 has been revised in accordance with elaborate and more or less 

 arbitrary rules of orthography. 



The Codex is marred by the presence of frequent index fig- 

 ures, referring to the missing commentaries. It is printed in 

 German, French and English, in parallel columns, the English 

 version being expressed in the quaintly picturesque phraseology 

 for which Dr. Kuntze is famous. For instance, there are pro- 

 visions " to insure an uniform orthography and clear coordination 

 of corrected homonyms instead of distant incorrected-ones, and 

 to avoid the validity of several homonyms only differing by in- 

 equal orthography," and among the provisions for the represen- 

 tation of botanical societies in international congress, is one to 

 the effect that " these votes can only be represented by one or 

 more orderly members of each society ! " 



Typographically, the work is remarkably free from errors. 

 The accepted genera are brought out clearly by the use of bold- 

 face type, but the data accompanying these bold-face names run 

 together with the cross-references in an annoying way that could 

 easily have been avoided by the judicious use of italic. 



This is not the place for an extended discussion of the peculiar 

 nomenclatural views of Dr. Kuntze, as expressed in his latest 



* TORREY.\, 3 : 154-157. O 1903. 



