14 LAWS OF NOMENCLATURE. 



there will be a limit even to these changes. A plentiful 

 source of synonyms will thus be exhausted. 



I just said that we are fast approaching the epoch when 

 all genera will be known. Here is a proof of this, taken 

 from the volumes of the ' Prodromus ' that have appeared 

 since 1844, and in which I have taken a special part as au- 

 thor or editor. I divided these into series of three volumes, 

 according to the date of publication, and then counted 

 how many accepted genera there were in each series, and 

 how many of these were new.' I computed also the num- 

 ber of accepted and of new species, considering only as new 

 such as had not been described before. I next calculated 

 the percentage of new genera and of new species. The 

 figures show a regular decrease in the proportion of new 

 genera, and a sHght increase in that of new species. 



Volumes of the Dateof the ^__5Sf!L__^ ^P°?"°- 



' Prodromus.' volumes. ' total, new. percent, total. new. percent. 



VIII., IX., X 1844-46 840 130 15-4 8495 1636 19-1 



XL, XII., XIII. 1847-52 602 65 107 8308 1783 21-4 



XIV., XV., XVI., 1857-66 476 35 7-3 7832 1864 23-7 



sect. 2, faso. 1. 



Totals . 1918 230 24,635 5283 



As regards species, the ' Nomenclator ' of Steudel, first 

 edition, of 1821, had about 55 synonyms for every 100 ad- 

 mitted species.^ The second edition, of 1840, gives the pro- 

 portion of 75 to 100.* There is no third edition, to allow of 

 the comparison being continued. The indexes of the ' Pro- 

 dromus ' published by Dr. Buck, for volumes vii. part 2, to 



' A genus detached from anotlier ia looked upon as new, but not so 

 that of which the name only has been changed. The same for species. 

 Genera and species described for the first time had often received names 

 in lists or herbaria. I have considered as new genera and species de- 

 scribed for the ' Prodromus,' though sometimes published a short while 

 before in journals, for the sake of priority. 



^ The calculation has been made on the left column of pages 10, 20, 

 30, etc., to 400, comprising 893 accepted species and 451 synonyms, 

 belonging to a very large number of genera taken at random. 



^ Calculating in like manner, the forty columns comprise 927 ac- 

 cepted species and 702 synonyms. 



