338 J. H. MAIDEN. 



Mr. Baker however, contends that, at all events as 

 regards the genus Eucalyptus, this method of classification 

 is wrong. Following are some of his statements. 



"And all this is due to our having classified in the past our 

 Eucalypts on what the author contends is an artificial basis, 

 namely, morphological characters." 1 



And again : — 



"In many instances it is impossible to classify Eucalypts on the 

 shape of fruits, anthers, buds, and leaves, and in this connection is 

 mentioned the case of E. bicolor and E. pendula, of A. Cunningham. 

 It has been customary in recent times to synonymise these species 

 under the name of E. largiflorens, F.v.M. Now Cunningham, 

 who was a field botanist and who was familiar with these trees, 

 named the bastard box of Cabramatta E. bicolor, a tree with a 

 dark box bark on the stem, and with clear white limbs, and having 

 a lightish brown coloured timber, whilst the "Coolabah" of the 

 interior he named E. pendula, from its drooping habit. This tree 

 has a red coloured timber, and a bark extending to the ultimate 

 branches. The oils of the two trees are quite distinct. The 

 economic and systematic materials of E. pendula having been 

 obtained from many parts of the Colony, and show the usual con- 

 stancy of specific characters which the author has found to hold 

 in almost all other Eucalyptus species. This also applies to E. 



the following passage : — " The character of a species is an extremely 

 composite affair, and it must stand or fall by the sura total of its peculiari- 

 ties and not by a single one. A specific character in one group may be a 

 generic character in a closely related one, or no character at all. There- 

 fore, there is nothing that involves a broader grasp of facts, the use of 

 an inspiration rather than a rule, than proper discrimination of species. 

 I have a belief that the arbitrary, rule-of-three mind will never make a 

 successful taxonomist ; and that there is a sort of instinct for specific 

 limitations which the possessor cannot communicate to another. This 

 taking into account the total character of a plant, from fades to minute 

 characters, will furnish the basis of future descriptive work. The more 

 obstacles that can be put in the way of hasty determination the better." 



1 On the constancy of the specific characters of the Genus Eucalyptus. 

 — Proc. Aust. Assoc, for Advt. Science, Melbourne, 1900, p. 229. 



