HOW TO USE THE KEY AND FLORA 3 
Referring now to the genus, it is found that there is only 
one species and that one agrees with the specimen in hand. 
It is therefore Convallaria majalis, and the name (as indi- 
cated by the L. which follows it) was given by the great 
Swedish naturalist, Linneus.? 
The author does not believe in spending much of the school 
time of a class upon identifying species, but would rather 
recommend comparative studies of as many plants of a group 
as are accessible, and making these studies thorough enough 
to bring out fully the idea of the family, the genus, and the 
species.2, The descriptions in this flora may be used as a 
check on the cruder ones which the pupil is first to frame for 
himself. 
1It will greatly simplify matters if the teacher throughout selects for 
examination only such species as are described in the flora. 
2 The teacher will find abundant suggestions for such a course in Spalding’s 
Introduction to Botany, pp. 152-260. 
