79 



common central mass, but the runner was easily recognized as a 

 small bud projecting downward from the bottom of the core. 

 In Fig. 2 the two cores are shown as they appeared in place 

 within the bulb. The smaller core is hidden beneath the larger 

 in the first figure (2, a). 



The two cores were united to each other and to the bulb tissue 

 by a common stem or stalk. The stalk of the smaller core was 

 longer than the other, as is seen in the figure (2, b). This stalk, 

 or point of union between bulb tissue and sprout or vegetative 

 tissue is not at the point nearest to the root fibers as is the case 

 in Erythronium, but is at a little distance from that point. The 

 roots form a compact bundle of fibers at the bottom, rather than 

 at one side of the base, of the bulb. But the runner issues in 

 the two genera {Erythronium and Titlipd) from the bottom of the 

 immature bulbs, when produced. 



VARIETAL AND SPECIFIC NAMES 



By T. D. A. Cockerell 



I am very glad to see (Bull. Torr. Club, May, p. 300) that 

 Dr. Robinson has frankly discussed the important question of the 

 status of varietal names ; it is a question which has been over- 

 looked or evaded by many botanists, with the result that the ex- 

 isting nomenclature is often inconsistent. 



I am by no means prepared to admit, of course, that what is 

 good in zoology is not also good in botany ; and there era cer- 

 tain considerations which Dr. Robinson has apparently over- 

 looked. 



Generic and subgeneric names are expressions of arbitrarily- 

 formed groups which have justification simply in their conven- 

 ience. From a Darwinian standpoint, these groups must contain 

 species which are not less related to one another than to species 

 assigned to other genera or subgenera. There is to be, in fact, 

 a natural continuity or contiguity, as with the inches on a foot- 

 rule. But granting this, it is then a matter of taste or custom 

 how large such divisions may be made. The subgenera of one 

 generation or one author are often the genera of the next. 



