THE BRITISH PANSIES. 



175 



This kind of work has been greeted in some quarters not merely with 

 far less credit than it deserves, but with discouragement and often with 

 unfounded scepticism. The objections have been of two kinds. The 

 first, which is happily now becoming a matter of history only, is founded 

 on a misconception of the true aim of classification, which was, and still 

 is in some quarters, regarded merely as a convenient means of grouping 

 species for purposes of reference. Hence any tampering with the units 

 was looked upon somewhat in the light of an inconvenient and almost 

 unjustifiable interference. This view of course needs but little refuta- 

 tion, for classification is now generally recognized to be an attempt to 

 express natural relationships, and not merely, or even primarily, a matter 

 of convenience. The second objection is far more serious. Doubt is often 

 cast on the scientific accuracy of the observations recorded. Unfortu- 

 nately this objection is only too often well founded. Nothing is more 

 harmful to the cause of Systematic Botany than the unrestrained practice 

 of making a " new variety " or a " new species " out of a plant which 

 may differ in some point or points from the general and typical form 

 of the plant in question. Scientific research is as urgently necessary 

 in Systematic as in other departments of Botanical Science. It is, 

 however, unfortunate that the earnest and careful student should suffer 

 so greatly from the obloquy deservedly heaped on the mere " species- 

 monger." It is absolutely necessary that the very best available evidence 

 should be sought for the correctness of the conclusions. This evidence 

 must be derived from several sources. The plants must be observed year 

 after year and as far as possible under different conditions. Careful and 

 minute examiDation of their characters must be made for several genera- 

 tions, and should be extended to plants taken from localities as widely 

 separated as possible. This examination may best be accomplished by 

 cultivating the plants in such a manner that strict control of the condi- 

 tions is possible. These lines of work are usually sufficient to demon- 

 strate the constancy or otherwise of the form in question. 



Valuable evidence may also be obtained by investigating the possibility 

 of the occurrence of natural or artificial hybrids. 



Several years ago I was greatly impressed with the apparent multi- 

 plicity of forms of wild Pansies met with in this country, and in my 

 attempt to gain some knowledge of the work that had already been done 

 on this group on the Continent I was greatly helped by Mr. E. G. Baker, 

 F.L.S., of the Natural History Museum, who at the time was paying 

 considerable attention to these plants. I gladly take this opportunity of 

 acknowledging his kindness. 



At first the prevalent scepticism on these matters possessed me to the 

 full, and up to a certain point the more Pansies I saw the less did it 

 appear that there was anything but a wide range of variation in a single 

 (or at most two or three) species. Looking back on that period I now" see 

 that this unbelief was almost entirely due to the manner in which the 

 Pansies in our large herbaria have been named, for there it seems that nearly 

 every collector has had his own ideas of the species, and has paid but 

 little regard to the ideas of the first describers, and, moreover, the lack of 

 care in discriminating form from form has been truly remarkable. In 

 consequence, plants covering almost the entire range of form met with in 



