SOME POINTS IN BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE. 189 
SOME POINTS IN BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE. 
R - De Canpotre has addressed a letter to M. A. Cogniaux, 
of Brussels, i in answer to one from that botanist requesting his opinion 
on certain points connected with botanical nomenclature, and t 
correspondence is published in the ‘‘ Bulletin” of thes Belgian Botani- 
cal Society (tom. xv., p. 477). The special cases stated by M. 
Cogniaux have reference to the roper authority to be appended to the 
names of species under the following circumstances which frequently 
new genu 
m 
the ideas of the authors, es be follow ed by their names, as authorities ? 
M. De Candolle’s reply is be aced by some remarks which appear very 
just and pertinent. He recalls to mind, what is too often forgotten, 
that the mention of an santionty after a@ name is not an omage 
rendered to the author; it conveys neither praise nor blame, and is in 
n 
author may fall into synonyms, whilst his reputation may remain 
immense if he has shown himself exact, clear, judicious, and profound. 
On the other hand, the author of bad descripti ons is placed in the 
lowest rank of botanists, though, either from an accident of time or 
because he has adopted the genera of a good author, his names aay 
stand.” ‘*Thunberg is cited very isl more often than R. Bro 
He considers that the true principle which ought to decide all pia 
cases as the above is this: ‘‘ ever to make an author say that which he 
has not said.” Tried by this canon the answer to the question asked 
in relation to the above difficulties will be a negative one, for in no 
case has the author published the new combination necessary to 
characterise a species, and to attribute such to him is to make him say 
what he has not said. In the first case, what the author has done is to 
ird cases, ce 
just it might be to attribute to an author specific combinations of 
names which he has never actually made. It would then frequently 
happen that an author would be made responsible for far more species 
than he allows to constitute his genus; whilst in other cases where 
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