iSi 



few of these now survive in cultivation, and with the 

 multiplication of beautiful and symmetrical forms there is 

 no excuse for the cultivation of abortions. Of course, it 

 is a matter of taste as to what constitutes beauty, and 

 what is beauty to one may be ugliness to another. I have 

 heard, for instance, of cresting being condemned in toto as 

 a deformity, and an eminent gardening authority "would 

 as soon have a dog with a tail on the end of its nose" as 

 a crested fern. Most of us, however, look upon cresting, 

 so long as it is symmetrical, as a pleasing variation. I 

 think it must be conceded that the essence of beauty in a 

 fern is symmetry, and although some ferns which are not 

 perfectly symmetrical may, for other reasons, be worth 

 growing, the absence of this quality must always be looked 

 upon as a defect. 



Returning now to Mr. Rowlands and his very reason- 

 able complaints as to the absence of uniformity in the 

 names given to genera and species, even when it is 

 regarded as a settled question what these are, I must admit 

 that I personally take little interest in questions of mere 

 priority, especially as the names first given, so far as these 

 can be ascertained, are often absurdly inappropriate. 

 When a name is in practically universal use, it seems a 

 pity to alter it because some person, perhaps in the dark 

 ages, called it by some other name long since forgotten. 

 There would seem to be no finality in this matter, unless 

 some researcher can discover the names given by Adam. 

 If, however, the high scientific persons who try to settle 

 these things will only agree among themselves, either as 

 the result of a Vienna Congress or by some other method, 

 I promise that I, for one, will conform to their decision. 

 Dvyoptcvis avistata will serve me just as well as Lastvcci 

 dilatata, Phyllitis Scolopendvium, as well as Scolopendvium 

 vulgave, and "a rose by any other name would smell as 

 sweet," but the trouble is that as soon as one becomes 



B 



