THEIR NOMENCLATURE. 433 
naively obvious. ‘The words run: ‘ Probably two or more 
species are confounded under this name, viz. (B) heterophyllus 
(Fries) ; floating leaves with dentate or cut lobes, flowers from the 
axils of the submersed or floating leaves ; or (B) peltatus (Fries) ; 
floating leaves subpeltate with a cordate or truncate base and 
crenate lobes, flowers from the axils of the floating leaves alone. 
Often the floating leaves are wanting in the former; never in 
fertile plants of the latter.” It was not a very sublime effort of 
reason to find out, after restricting the name peltatus to the plants 
with flowers “from the axils of the floating leaves alone,” then, 
that the floating leaves would never be wanting on the fertile 
(i.e. on the flowering) plants of peltatus. If only men with red 
hair should be baptised Rufus, assuredly red hair would “never be 
wanting” on any bearded Homo rufus ; and such men would thus 
admirably be proved a species of themselves, distinct from all 
other men, by the constancy of the character! The premisses so 
being laid down, the inverted conclusion is more undeniable than 
profound. But how about Ranunculus peltatus when it flowers 
out of water, and has no floating leaves above its multipartite 
leaves? Ceasing to be peltatus, what does it become ? 
In edition third of the ‘Manual’ R. confusus was separated from 
aquatilis as a distinct species; the rest of aquatilis being now 
distinguished into three varieties, — heterophyllus, trichophyllus, 
subpeltatus ; the middle one of these three presumably being the 
omnino tenuifolius of the ancient authors, the pantothria of edition 
first, slipt out of edition second to make room for that fine 
touch of Friesian ratiocination indicated above. The distinctions 
between the two other varieties, separated by its interposition 
between them, were perhaps better known to the writer than 
expressed to the reader. 
In edition fourth a much larger change is ventured upon. 
BR. aquatilis at length disappears, having diverged into seven 
other species, including its former divergence confusus. On the 
Darwinian theory there ought to have forthwith commenced 
among them an arduous struggle for existence on the same extent 
of habitable country which had so recently held only the one 
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