THE NEW RULES FOR NOMENCLATURE 27 



accepted and acted upon ; but we trust that any extension of it in 

 the future will be strongly resented, in the interest of that stability 

 which we observe one of the speakers considered would result from 

 its adoption. Owing to the incompleteness of the list, the per- 

 verted ingenuity which has added so many useless synonyms to 

 our nomenclature will still have scope for its exercise ; and the 

 honest worker himself will often be compelled by the force of logic 

 to restore names which he would willingly overlook, for, by the 

 wording of the Kules, all names not definitely excluded are avail- 

 able. Moreover, a considerable number of restorations, which 

 would certainly be on the list had the compiler been aware of 

 them, will maintain their position owing to their exclusion from 

 it ; thus, among British plants, Radicala of Hill, adopted by 

 Messrs. Groves in their edition of Babington's Manual for Nas- 

 turtium Br., will remain, although Cammarum of the same author 

 is barred by the list ; and Trichoon of Both (1798), taken up 

 by Dr. Kendle (Cat. PL Welwitsch, ii. 218), must replace Phrag- 

 mites Trin. (1820). * This list of course will not greatly affect 

 British botanists, for whose convenience we have appended to the 

 Rules a list of those genera as appearing in British books which 

 will be affected by the Index. To this list must be added Peramium, 

 which Messrs. Groves, following some American authors, substitute 

 for Goodyera ; this is invalidated by the fact that Salisbury pub- 

 lished the name without any diagnosis. 



It is to be hoped that any necessary changes will be effected 

 with all possible care, and without that haste for the creation of 

 new combinations to bear the name of their manufacturer which 

 has hitherto been somewhat too prominent in work of this kind. 

 Mr. Druce, with characteristic energy and ingenuity, has at once 

 set to work, and has published in the Annals of Scottish Natural 

 History for October a list of changes which he considers " may 

 have the advantage of directing attention to the subject, and will 

 allow the suggested names to be subjected to criticism.' ' It seems 

 to us that the M advantage M hardly compensates for the unwisdom 

 of "suggesting names to be subjected to criticism " ; criticism 

 should surely precede publication, or the latter will only add to 

 the numberless unnecessary synonyms already in existence. This 

 indeed is to some extent the case with Mr. Druce's list ; in his 

 anxiety to secure new combinations he has not waited for the 

 official publication of the new Laws and thus takes up names of 

 genera which the Laws exclude ; he even pursues this manufacture 

 into synonymy ! Nor do we see what is gained by rushing out 

 what is manifestly only a small portion of the changes that will be 

 necessary. There are undoubtedly in Mr. Druce's list names which 

 will have to be taken up ; but there are others which must pass at 

 once into the lumber of useless synonymy. 



We have no intention of entering into a detailed criticism of this 

 first attempt to revise the nomenclature of some British plants ; 

 but we may deduce from it one or two conclusions of general 



* The name of the British plant is J\ Phragmites Rendle, I c. 



