CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE SPECIES QUESTION 247 
and I have published for the region of Gray’s Manual a dozen 
species of Antennaria where all former editions of that book had 
but one species, eight of our. new ones must be relegated to non- 
entity, and only four be permitted to figure as valid; this number 
of four, we venture to suppose will have been estimated as a large 
enough increase of the number of antennarias over the number 
of one species recognized twenty years since. Again: if I alone 
have published for the United States and Mexico 45 species of 
Ptelea, where formerly 5 only had been accredited, I am warned 
beforehand that by this arithmetic gauge of taxonomic values 
30 of my Pielea species will be invalidated and 15 out of 45 may 
stand that strange and wonderous test and be approved. The 
question how these reductions are to be accomplished does not 
appear to have been broached by any one of the two or three 
members of the symposium who suggested and with more or less 
enthusiasm advocated the arithmetic scheme. Presumably the 
selection will be made by lot. That would be in perfect keeping 
with the principle advocated; though possibly some other alter- 
native would be resorted to, by which to show favor to such ‘‘reck- 
lessly made" species as the foremost and most willing if not 
ardent supporter of arithmetical suppression himself aforetime 
perpetrated. By way of illustrating what I mean, I shall call 
attention to the fact that much less than a generation ago the 
admitted : pecies for the genus Eryngium in North America num- 
bered 15. At present they number 30, and for this recent doub- 
ling of the number of species in the genus Mr. Coulter is mainly 
responsible. Two or three other authors have contributed bare- 
ly, or scarcely, one new species each to this increase, while for 
1 of them our main supporter of suppression by arithmetic om 
is sponsor. 
Yet again, in that earlier time which is not long ago, to the 
group of plants then called Peucedanwm—afterwards within a 
little space twice changed, first to Lomatium, then to Cogswellia— 
there were attributed some 25 North American species; then all 
at once, as late as the year 1900 the membership of the genus was 
more than doubled, and that not only by consent of our species- 
fearing friend, but by his most active support; for, out of these 
now 60 species most of the 35 new ones are owned by him as his. 
And these are but examples selected out of considerable number 
in which our most strenuous supporter of the arithmetic reduction 
