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numerous intergrading forms. It has, therefore, been given its 

 rightful place as a form of the latter and is now called Ptcris aqui- 

 lina pseudocaudata. But the name does not go unchallenged. The 

 author of six editions of "Our Native Ferns" has recently made 

 the astounding statement that "we have assigned it no place in 

 Dr. Small's forthcoming flora because of present uncertainty 

 regarding its specific or varietal limits." Since Dr. Small's flora 

 covers the very region where this form is the prevailing one, it 

 would seem much better to have given it some designation, per- 

 haps Ptcris latiuscula pseudocaudata, if no other could be found. 

 "When in doubt do nothing" is not always a safe maxim in 

 botany. 



* * 



* 



There are about eighty fern species and varieties east of the 

 Mississippi river and north of the Gulf States, and forty-three 

 of these, or more than half, have had a change of name in the 

 past ten years, and some few have had more than one. Once 

 upon a time the editor of the Fern Bulletin, being assured that 

 the adoption of these new names would mean stability, followed 

 the lead ; but as change succeeded change, it became more ap- 

 parent that under the rules laid down there could be no stability, 

 and he returned to the nomenclature that is most widely used, 

 namely, that established by Hooker and Baker. This may not 

 be a perfect system, but we find that by using Hooker and Baker's 

 names we are understood in every country where English, French 

 or German is spoken, and that is more than can be said of any 

 other brand of nomenclature. The principal feature of Ameri- 

 can nomenclature is its instability, and one of its distinguishing 

 characteristics, its unlikeness to any other. The aim of nomen- 

 clature, as we understand it, is to give a name to each species 

 by which it can be known throughout the world. Any system that 

 tends to upset old established names is, we believe, a harmful 

 one. It is sheer nonsense to say that all questions regarding the 

 "new" nomenclature have been settled in view of what has hap- 

 pened to our fern names ; but if anyone can defend these changes, 

 we shall be glad to give them space in this journal for the pur- 

 pose. Since this paragraph will fall under the eyes of every 

 botanist of note in America, it is possible some apostle of the 



