104 LEAFLETS. 



the first thing which the author does is to transfer that old 

 Greek name Myrica to yet another American type, different 

 from that to which Linnseus had applied it ; and this done, 

 and the Linnsean type being for the moment without a name, 

 Rafinesque hastens to invest that with a new name, Cerophora. 

 Let us remark in passing, that we are not to censure Rafinesque 

 for thus taking a name away from an old genus, applying it 

 to a new one, and then creating a new name for the old 

 genus. He was a professed disciple of Linnaeus ; and this 

 kind of trick he learned from Linnaeus, who practiced it a 

 hundred times and more ; and his disciples for a hundred 

 years kept it up. 



As for Cerophora, and its applicability, the first lines of 

 Rafinesque's paragraph indicate his purpose to have been 

 mainly that of being rid of the name Gale, which he says is 

 Dutch, whereas in truth it is English. But, passing from the 

 consideration of the name Cerophora as a substitute for the 

 Linnaean Myrica, to what particular type does the new name 

 apply ? When the author immediately after the name cites 

 Gale, Tournef. as its equivalent, we seem compelled to regard 

 Myrica Gale, Linn, as its type ; but yet, the very name 

 Cerophora seems to contradict that ; for the gale shrub is not 

 wax-bearing. And the thought is contradicted again when, 

 proceeding to define two subgenera of Cerophora, he plainly 

 makes our exclusively American wax-bearing shrubs the 

 typical subgenus. There must, then, forever remain two 

 opinions as to the tenability of Cerophora, Raf. ; and I find 

 myself at accord with the author who has proposed the new 

 name Cerothamnus. 



