A. Gray—Botanical Nomenclature. 433 
to such names as leocharis and Aplopappus, in the formation 
of which the Greek aspirate was neglected. e cannot wel 
suppose this to have been a typographical or a clerical oversight | 
on the ground that the right of priority, like that of a certain 
Ing, is super grammaticum,—while the remainder have written 
Heieocharis and Hapiopappus ; whence some confusion in the 
indexes. The requirement to preserve the original form of 
DeCandolle has a note on Diclytra of Borckhausen, 
changed into Dielytra to make it conformable to a conjectured 
meaning, and then into Dicentra that it might agree with the 
etymology given by Borckhausen himself: he gives it as a 
ease in which an excess of erudition has loaded the genus with 
three names in place of one; and he concludes, as do we, that 
we think it should now be maintained, although it might have 
been left in the original form. Moreover, the doctrine that 
names must not be mended and that sense is unimportant, 
however good and’ needful, is so recent that it must not be too 
rigidly applied to long-standing cases. 
is consideration should not be wholly overlooked in the 
case of old and long-established genera, especially those of 
humerous species, for which some obscure older name has 
come to light. Since it is impossible to make rules for the 
Infraction of a rule, such cases must be left to sound discretion. 
n our opinion such discretion would forbid the transference of 
the name Stylidium from Swartz’s genus to Marlea, and the 
revival of Labillardiére’s transient first Candollea for Swartz’s 
Stylidium. ‘ 
The fourth section of article 60, which enjoined the rejection 
“of names formed by the combination of two languages,” is 
now suppressed. Nothing is put in its place; but let us hope 
that we shall not be driven to the acceptance of the specific 
hame “acuticarpum” which one of our fellow-botanists has 
recently perpetrated. Although hybrid names are to be 
avoided, yet, as DeCandolle remarks, they cannot consistently 
Am. Jour, oe Senirs, Vor, XXVI, No. 156,—Dec., 1883. 
