on fries’ nomenclature of colours. 
27 
or, as the logicians say, extended, signification such a colour-name 
may have. And if a bright and definite colour may be so varied, 
how much more variable may a less pronounced one be ! 
Much has been written on the science of colours, but I know no 
book that deals at all exhaustively with their nomenclature. 
Field’s “Chromatography” has a wide reputation among artists, 
but it is of little use to us. Neither is the classical work of 
Chevreul, the oldest professor in the world, who still, in his ninety- 
ninth year, lectures on chemistry in Paris. 
We need not be much troubled about classification, for a very 
simple method is sufficient for our purposes. But it is as well to 
know how chromatographers ordinarily classify colours ; and to this 
end I copy the following from one of the many editions of Field’s 
book : — 
Neutral colours : white, black. 
Primary „ 
Secondary „ 
Tertiary „ 
Semi-neutral „ 
yellow, red, blue, 
orange, green, purple, 
citrine, russet, olive, 
brown, maroon, grey. 
I propose to group the whites and blacks with the greys that 
come between them; to range the oranges, citrines, and browns 
after the yellows ; to include the russets and maroons as subordi- 
nate to the reds ; to take the purples as variations of the blues ; 
and to comprehend the olives under the greens. Sombre colours 
dominate so conspicuously among Fungi that we understand their 
coloration best by regarding their lowly hues as variants from types 
that owe their names to their very brilliancy. Their complica- 
tions are so great that it is often difficult, even as it is, to refer 
them to their proper types ; a trouble that was ever present to me 
when I preliminarily essayed to classify them. 
I would begin with the whites and the blacks, and their inter- 
mediate greys ; I at once discard the trammels that the chromato- 
graphers lay down for our deception, when they say that these, in 
their extremes, are no colours at all. 
And first, of the whites. My list shows nineteen distinct terms 
for these. But most of them are made up on the principle that I 
have already laid down as of constant occurrence, viz., that they 
owe their appearance to the natural and obvious terms having been 
already used. The classical distinction of albus meaning a dead 
white, and candidus a shining white, has little prominence in Fries’ 
description. To Fries, albus is white, and perfect whiteness 
admits of no qualification. If albus , as a specific name, is pre- 
occupied, albellus , albescens , albidior , albidus , and albineus can 
only express the idea of whiteness, but seem used rather for 
“ whitish.” Albicans and candicans should strictly mean “ becom- 
ing white.” Argenteus and argyraceus, are a silvery white, silvered. 
Dealbatus , white-washed or plastered, cerussatus , coloured with 
white-lead, and argillaceus , like white clay, seem to connote 
texture or surface along with whiteness. Eburneus , ivory-white, 
