328 
THE GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. 
BOTANICAL SECTION OF THE 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION.“ 
™ (Concluded from p. 291.) 
ISATION OF SEcri0N.—I am afraid I have 
advantage of these annual meetings, of the profitable 
ucussion formal and informal, * of the privilege 
ao many of who 
us p^ their presence 
I am anxious, then, to suggest that we should 
conduct our proceedings on as broad lines as 
possible. I do not think we should be too ready to 
encourage papers which may well be communicated 
to societies, either local or central. 
The field is large; the labourers as they advance 
in life can W ш expect to keep pace with all that 
going on in it. We must look to individual 
m 
wn, or on important researches on 
which they have been —À engaged 
Nomen: 
is one subject upon pe^ from my official 
It is not on its tec side, I am , of sufi- 
cient to justify my devoting to 
the space which portance otherwise 
Then, from lack of 
ng power on the part of those who use 
names are often ambiguous; thus 
= is applied equally to Typha and to а, 
plants extremely different. Vernacular 
apie only of local utility, while the corr 
—€ intelligible throughout the world. 
A technical M e PME ered 
we cannot fix the object ot 
ste ita affinity, atructure, 
cognitio 
besides being an authority on 
A also an accomplished botanist. He tells 
us: f “A naturalist, for purposes connected with 
his particular science, sees re 
I1 
oT Address т; Thiselton Dyer. Dyer МА. Рив, 
The ын the meetin 8 of 
"T Lin Pa MEME, TM in 
I ntm d apt 
genus, those of the species; an order, those of the 
genera, 
Bat these are the жыла principles, whicb are 
applicable to names gene ame such a 
Rinunculus repens does ok “differ in any particular 
from а name such as John Smith, except that one 
denotes a species, the other an individual. 
This being the case, and technical names being 
necessity, they continually pass into general use in 
onnection with мнен, со ce, medicine, 
s that, if science is to 
eep t with n affairs, stability in 
ew Т is a thing not merely to aim at but to 
respect, Changes become necessary, but should 
never be insisted on without grave and solid reason, 
rom a uniform and comparative 
point of view. It then often occurs that new genera 
are seen to have been too hastily founded on in- 
sufficient grounds, and must therefore be merged in 
others. This may involve the creation of a large 
number of new names, the old ones becoming hence- 
It is 
which the 
transference is made, a new one must be devised. 
Many — Pyme pe lare, however, set up the 
doctrine tha 
and сасна {һе taxonomic wanderings of the 
Organism to which it was once А 
always accompany it. This, however, would not 
have met with much sympathy from Linnæus, who 
attached no importance to the specific epithet at all : 
recente specificum sine generico est quasi pistillum sine 
ana.“ Linnæus always had a solid reason for 
9 he did or said, and it is worth while 
considering in this case what it was. 
Before his time, the _— of associating plan 
in genera had progreas in the hands 17 
Tournefort and others, b bat Spoor names were still 
cumbrous and prac 
anacifi 
. Bat there is this 
have never been used to designate more than one 
plant, and would have been sufficient to indicate it. 
We should have lost, it is true, the useful informa- 
tion which we get from our present practice in 
arning the genus to which the re е: 
bat, theoretically, a nomenclature could h 
established on the one-name principle, Tho thing, 
owever, 14 impossible now, even if it were desirable. 
A specific epithet like vulgaris may belong to 
hundreds of different species belonging to as man 
different сень and taken alone is meaningless, 
A Linnean name, then, though it consists of two 
treated as a wh Nomen omne 
сч 
may be i nt. 
аъ анын that the same apecies is 
nam жс ы and described by more than one writer, or 
different views are taken of specific differences by 
various writers; the species of one are therefore 
“lumped ” by another, In such cases, where there 
is а choice of names, it is custom mary to select the 
earliest published, I agree. › however, with the late 
Sereno Watson$ that '' there is nothing whatever 
i 3 ii T PAL, 913. 
І phonse de Candolle points out іп a letter published 
in the Вий. de la Soc, Bot. de France xix.), A the n eal 
ere fragment of the name 
Nat um ө when taken by itself, ‹ 
§ Nature, vii, 54, 
of an ethical character inherent in a n 
oy priority of publication or ойны am аһ 
ender it morally obligatory upon 
one rame rather than another in 
fact, Linnæus and the early умеша 
little importance to priority. 
far from being the case that it is sometimes а] bat 
5 ста to guess what could possibly hay 
been | 
Іа 1872 85 Joseph owe Me —" Them H 
of species described i 
the naturalist who puts а de 
es plant into iy # 
proper position in regard to i | 
led gun, 
which ATUS works still abound, Thi 
as always se to me not merely sound ш, | 
o а а 785 of treating the matter, What 
ant in nomenclature is 16 шахі 
ыч W and the minimum amount of change 
compatible with ob va in n perfecting oar taxonomie 
Pie stem Nomen cla! а means, no ot ап eni, 
— — 
existence, What we want to doi is to push. on theta 
of g 
manner, Ar their affinities determined as correctly 
as possible, We shall then have material for dealing 
with the larger problems which the vegetation of 
our globe will present when treated as a whole, Ti 
me the botanists who waste their time over priority 
are like boys who, when sent on an errand, spend 
— time in playing by the roadside, By such men 
en Linnæus is not to be allowed to decide his om | 
8. e of the most splendid ornaments o 
our С * gave the name of ia grand - 
: this is now to be known as Magnolia fœ'ida 
The reformer himself is constrained to admit, “ The 
change is a most unfortunate one in every bi 
It is difficult to see what is gained by making i 
except to render systematic botany ridiculous, The 
genus Aspidium, known to every Fern calli 
B 
Ф 
© 
* 
с” 
E 
Ф 
4 
e, 
br 
E 
o 
E 
ш 
„> 
B 
EHE 
E. 
pP 
[>] 
E- 
з 
i=} 
= 
i 
named, and Banksi is fa a 
бы» after Sir Ferdina э "Mas i 
р al which, І * hardly i M à not emanat? $ 
from an Englishm ; 
I will not — instances. Bat the worst of i 
is, that those who have carefully studied w 
from vari ses, which ptel 
afford the time to discuss, when once it is dde 
ce n 
to reach finality, Many ge 
by virtue of their re-definition in 7 nodir timen; it 
the form in which they were originally all 
they have hardly any intelligible meaning at 
It can hardly be doubted that one cause 
want of attention which sy — е ü- 
receives is the А — labour of the "mE 
work with w eh as been orerlaid. чыш i 
enormous Фа по беби: has already 
may be judged from the Inder Kewensis, W > та a 
idi 
* P. 
Flora of British India, i ‚ vil. 
Garden and Forest, ii., 615. 
