812 iNDEX KEWENSiS.- 
Before commenting on the Index, it is essential to recognise the 
great obligation under whic h Mr. Jackson has laid the systematic 
no one to whom the work co ave been more fittingly committed 
For such a task, a thorough knowledge of bibliography is required, 
and Mr. Jackson has alre Ov tence, not onl 
d 
his Guiide to the Literature of Botany, but by numerous other papers, 
many of them printed in this Journal, showing that careful regard 
for details and due appreciation of their a which i 
essential to thorough work in this direction. It had come to be 
the drudgery which such an undertaking involves—a drudgery of 
‘ h ts - 
to avoid the necessity of causing himself to be cited as the 
authority for any combination of names; and in this he contrasts 
— ably with too many modern writers, especially in America, 
Ww . ae vine considered reedaahaten of disused names seems to 
fave pom actuated by a de esire to “obtain a eh notoriety by 
combinations.”” Changes of nomenclature on a large 
t 
ackson has acted with judgment as well as with modesty in not 
attempting them. He yes a as the correct name of each 
species that under which it w st placed in its recognised genus 
This of course will not sa atisfy ahaten who attach a Mth sancticy 
to the earliest specific name; but it is at least a definite course, aa 
e said more than once in these pages, is the one w 
appears to me the most satisfactory. 
T rings me to the only serious omission—that of the date 
of publication after each specific name. Such an addition, made at 
ps time of extracting, would not have added materially to the "gestae 
would it have increased the bulk of the book; while it would 
have greatly added to its value. The plan adopted by Richter in 
sos access to a large library, especially en ~ Jackson’s decision is 
not invariably to be accepted werent que 
As an illustration of my ing, I will take the synonyms of 
be plant for which Mr. Saiion, retains the name Cypripedium 
tabile. These he cites thus :— 
peste Salisb. in Trans. Linn. Soc. i. (1791) 78.—Am. Bor. 
album, Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. I. iii. 808 = spectabile. 
candulense, Michx. FI. Bos . Am. ii. 261.= spectabile. 
hirsutum, Mill. Gard. Dict. ed. VIII. no. 3. = spectabile. 
7 Walt. Fl. Carol. 229 = spectabile.’ 
he simple addition of the dates to these names show 
sleanie.t that three of a ste adduced as synonyms take stieanes 
of the one retained ; 
