44: LAWS OP NOMEXCLATURE. 



abuses are now legitimized by the custom of a century. 

 There is what jurists term prescription. As to specific 

 names, Linnaeus being the first to use them, he has an 

 undeniable right to those he has made — that of priority. 



Article 15 must not be an impediment to quoting Tour- 

 nefort, or any other, for a generic name made by him before 

 Linnaeus, and adopted by the last-named author, nor to 

 quoting Lobel for a specific single-worded name adopted by 

 Linnaeus ; but in cases where Linnffius, by ain arbitrary act, 

 has adopted other names, these must remain ; this usurpation 

 being, as it were, legitimized by habit and by general asselit, 

 and admitted, besides, on account of the evil consequences 

 of a further change. 



20. The final -ales for cohorts was first proposed in 1835 

 by Lindley.^ That in -inecB, employed somewhat later in 

 several works, has the defect of wanting boldness, of having 

 been already made use of for several Orders, and of being 

 rather like a diminutive. In this point of view, it is more 

 adapted to suborders than to agglomerations of Orders. 

 The form in -ales is adopted by Messrs. Bentham and Hooker 

 in the ' Genera Plantarum.' 



Our proposed scheme formally recommended the final 

 -ales; but the Committee not being unanimous on this 

 point, asked the Congress not to restrict authors in this 

 matter. 



22. The derivation in -acecB is in perfect conformity with 

 the genius of the Latin tongue ; but that in -inece was used 

 in an analogous sense, as has been explained to me by an 

 able professor of ancient tongues; in, in Latin radicals, 

 being used in the same sense as ac. Euphony decided 

 sometimes for one form, sometimes for another, and botanists 

 have done the same. 



Exceptions to the use of these two finals are warranted in 

 some Orders by a long-standing custom, and sometimes by 

 custom and euphony together. The leading principle of chan- 

 ging names as little as possible is applicable here. Added 



' ' A Key to Botany.' 



