290 BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE. 



[The following is a translation of the portion of the ' Nouvelles 

 Reinarques ' to which M. DeCandolle refers above.] 



I 



Article 48. — Citation of Names of Authors, 



The essential principle, which ought to govern every citation of 

 the name of an author, is this : Never to make an author say what he 

 has not said; we might even add, what he has not said clearly. 

 This is a much-extended application of the principle, Never do to 

 others what you would not have them do to you. * 



Many naturalists do not observe this rule, sometimes from 

 carelessness, and sometimes, which is more strange, from an 

 erroneous notion of justice. Thus, a family is often attributed 

 to an author, although he has only made a tribe of the group in 

 question ; a sub-genus is ascribed to him when he has constituted 

 it a genus, or vice versa. These are causes of error and obscurity 

 against which I have already pronounced. + 



The purpose of the citation of the author's name is misunderstood 

 by some. This is merely an abridged form of a bibliographical 

 indication, intended to establish, without lengthy research, the date 

 which fixes the priority of a name. Dr. Asa Gray has manifested 



tO me his Wish that this Viorl Vknon oYnroqcAfl in tliP arf.lV.lA 



and I 



addition 



Sometimes one is puzzled as to the citation of the author of a 



combination (groupe). I will indicate a practical method, applicable 

 m all cases : 



Write the name of the combination (groupe) with the mtni.ion 

 of the work in which it was first published : thus 



Bidens JAnxxi Genera, no. 932. 



Bellevalia rouiana Reichenbach, Fl. germ, excurs., p. 105. 



Take away what follows the name of the author, and you have : 



Bidens Linne. 



Bellevalia rornana Reichenbach. 



The advantage of this proceeding is, that it never attributes to 

 an author what he has not published, for, if he had not published 

 it, you could not cite title nor page. 



Inversely, we can verify the accuracy of the citation of an author 

 by searching m what publication he has given the name or names 

 attributed to him. If it is not found there, the citation is erroneous. 

 Many modern citations will not stand this test. 



1 have otten combatted \ the innovations which consist in mixing 

 with the names of the species and its author the history of names 

 winch have preceded it. I have not had the good fortune to con- 

 vert some naturalists whose merit I fully recognise, but a large 



* A. DeCandolle, Bull. soc. roy. de bot. de Belgique, xv. 1876 

 t Ibid. 



t Commentaire, pp. 45—55 ; Phytographie, pp. 860, 464. 



