GO 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIOT. 



Lloyd position is well taken. A striking instance of the 

 absurdities fostered by recent rales of n'omenclature may 

 be found in tbe case of the ferns of Eastern America. Of 

 these there are about eighty species and varieties' and in 

 the past ten years, the names of no less than forty-three^, 

 or more than half, have been changed. Any real reasons^ 

 for such changes are hard to- find. Ostensibly they have 

 been made in the interests of "stability," but as some- 

 species havehad two or three changes of name in so short 

 a period as ten years it begins to appear that such stabil- 

 ity needs a very important prefix to properly designate it. 



To those who have set out to live at least a hundred 

 years, the study of botany is recommended as a valuable 

 aid in the right direction. The longevity of flower lovers- 

 is remarkable. One of the editor's correspondents, a 

 young fellow of some eighty summers, is planning a fern- 

 hunting trip to Vermont this year and another, past 

 seventy, has been spending the winter in Europe. Of the 

 four oflicers of the Fern Chapter, three have passed their 

 sixty-fifth birthday and one of them passed it ten years 

 ago, A correspondent in Canada writes that he has; 

 taught botany for more than, fifty years but his record is 

 quite put into the shade by another who, at the age of 

 eighty ^four^ is still teaching botany in a Wisconsin college. 

 Turning to the list of past leaders in botany we find the 

 rule still holds. Linnffius lived to be seventy-one; La- 

 marck, eighty-five; Muhlenberg, seventy; Thomas Nut- 

 tall, seventy-three ; Asa Gray, seventy-eight ; John Torrey^ 

 seventy-seven; Thomas Meehan^ seventy-six and Jacob 

 BigeloWj ninety-two. In fact, the further we investigate 

 the matter, the more certain it appears that botanists live 

 longer than the average in other walks of life. Those who 

 have not yet subscribed for The American Botanist should 

 do so at once and be prepared to become centenarians. 



