Botany. 177 
Herbarium Notes.— An Alphabetical Arrangement. — In 
arranging an herbarium one's first thought would be to arrange it ac- 
cording to some recognized natural system of which it would then 
constitute a practical application. Yet,as herbara are intended much 
more for use in the identification of species than for instruction in 
systematic botany or for embodiment of ephemeral classifications, 
alphabetical arrangements based on assumed convenience are pro- 
bably the prevailing ones. These alphabetical arrangements may 
be either of species in a genus or of genera in certain large groups, 
as the Fungi, the composite or the Grasses; but they are all based on 
the idea of convenience of reference. 
As to the alphabetical arrangement of genera. Without consid- 
ering the question whether a natural arrangement, even if slightly 
less convenient, would not be preferable, I believe that such an ar- 
rangement can be shown to be equally convenient. In the first 
place the largest families of Fungi, for example, as the Icaceae, 
Uredineae, or Sph^riacese; are by no means as large as A, C, S, or P 
of an alphabetical arrangement. The larger groups like S and P are 
exceedingly inconvenient unless subdivided; and surely it is of more 
value to the student to know the subdivisions of the Sphaeriaceae 
than of S, unless he is preparing himself to be a Register of Deeds. 
The convenience of an alphabetical arrangement arises from the 
familiarity of the alphabet, yet the names of the natural sub-divi- 
sions of plants should be scarcely less familiar to the botanist. 
Then, too, allied genera are often wanted at the same time; genera 
of the same initial letter probably never. Plants are generally 
studied in small groups; and nothing could be more inconvenient to 
the student of a tribe than to find six genera in six distinct groups, 
each of which must be carefully searched, nor more convenient than 
to have them together, perhaps even placed in the very order in 
which he wishes to study them. 
Somewhat more can be said in favor of an alphabetical arrange- 
ment of species in a genus. Such an arrangement is not needed to 
any appreciable extent, however, except in very large genera. Yet 
m such genera as Carex, for example, a natural arrangement is 
equally convenient, without regarding the fact that it is infinitely 
more instructive. Almost any one who has spent much time in the 
matter can put a Carex into the proper group, the species within the 
group is the difficulty; and it is much more convenient to have all 
the species of a group together than to be forced to search through 
five or six letters. But in genera of Fungi, as Cercospora, where 
there is no very good natural arrangement, it might be said, is better 
than one based on the host, such as is usually given in the books, 
because neither is particularly instructive and the first is the handier. 
Vet, as herbarium specimens are consulted for the most part in con- 
nection with a manual, an arrangement following it would certainly 
be perfectly convenient. And, perhaps, it would not trouble the 
sf„H««f ^^ remember that Cercospora viticola is on the 
student c 
