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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLII 



tion are only different phases, perhaps merely differ- 

 ences in degree, of the fundamental struggle between 

 heredity and environment. 



Forms arising by adaptation have been called ecads, 

 those from variation, variants, and those from mutation, 

 mutants. With the familiar term hybrid for the pro- 

 duct of hybridation, we are able to designate in a 

 general way the forms originating by the four methods. 

 The ecologist, and sooner or later the whole botanical 

 world, must have some definite way of naming each par- 

 ticular form. It is possible to take no further thought 

 about the matter, and allow this nomenclature to grow 

 in the same random, unscientific fashion that nomencla- 

 ture has always grown. It seems highly desirable, how- 

 ever, to consider the requirements of the case, and make 

 suggestions as to the best method of meeting them. The 

 first essentials of a name are that it should be as short 

 and as significant as possible. For our present purpose, 

 the name of each form should indicate the ancestry and 

 the method of origin, and, when it is known, the causal 

 factor. Many ways of securing this result have been 

 considered for each method of origin. This may be illus- 

 trated by the following list, showing several possible 

 ways of naming the shade ecad of Galium boreale. 



1. Galium dubiosum n. sp. 



2. Galium boreale dubiosum. 



3. Galium boreale. 2 



4. Galium borealades. 



5. Galium boreale scias. 



The first method, which is that of descriptive botany 

 at present, indicates nothing of ancestry, origin or factor. 

 The second gives merely the ancestry, as does the third. 

 The fourth gives both ancestry and method of origin, 

 the patronymic suffix -ades referring to ecad. The use 

 of a suffix has much to commend it, particularly the fact 

 that it makes it possible to designate the forms of a 

 species by means of a binomial. Its use, however, has 

 practically been made impossible by the senseless names 



