152 The American Naturalist. [February, 



the names to entirely different plants. In this way he monopolized 

 his nomenclature." 



How far we may not be forced to tolerate this in Linne because of 

 the necessity of a fixed foundation for nomenclature is a question 

 which perhaps merits more careful consideration than Kuntze has 

 given it. But there is no such reason in the case of Linne imitators, 

 and as the root of all evil in nomenclature, they should not be allowed 

 to escape with impunity. Linne is not the only man who considered 

 himself the autocrat of botanical nomenclature. Subsequently, would-be 

 despots and oligarchies have asserted this authority with great vigor. 

 There are those now who assume a divine right to say what shall be 

 and what shall not be, and, while crying out at all changes by others, 

 themselves often make changes at will ; retaining only those names 

 which they or their ancestors have approved and made current. 



In this connection Kuntze gives a list of the authors whom Linne 

 slighted and whose names he * rebaptized ' and a number of examples 

 of Linne's method. Two must be given, and they are not the worst: 

 " upon Cardamine lunaria L — Lunaria aegyptica Juss. Adanson 

 based a new genus, Scopolia. ' Immediately on this discovery,' writes 

 Medicus, ' Linne separated it again from Cardamine, recognizing it as 

 a separate genus, but changed the name Bcopolia to Kicolia.'" 

 Another case is Heisteria L. 1737, dedicated to Heister, a contempor- 

 ary. Heister afterwards ventured to remonstrate against Linne's. 

 "shameful alterations in nomenclature," whereupon Linn.' chastized 

 him by changing Heisteria to Muraltia (1767) ! 



Section -1, entitled ''Inconsistencies of Linn.' and his contemporaries, 

 and their alterations of their own names," continues the same subject, 

 giving a large number of interesting examples. 



Section 6 is headed "Brutal lawlessness of nomenclature after 

 Linne until the beginning of the XIX century ; Robert Brown, etc." 

 The period treated of in this section might well be termed the feudal 



period of Botany. " After Linne's death " says Kuntze " anarchy 



broke out, as in other cases in history after the death of a reformer 

 and dictator." There were on the one hand the heirs of Linne-'-'- 

 the editors of the successive editions of his works, and on the other, 

 a number of imitators of him, great Barons, as it were, none great 

 enough to fill his place, and all more or less at war. Name-alteration 



indebted for most of the present disorder in nomenclature. At this 

 time was it that the habit of rharenn ■ l he H>ecie> nam.- of a plant put 



