CHAP. II. 
OF DESCRIPTIONS. 
525 
or analysed until it was dried ; another may have been in- 
spected in a dried state, without having been analysed ; or, if 
analysed, the analysis may have been very imperfect : no ex- 
amination may have been made of the interior of the ovary, 
of the fruit, or of the seed ; all points upon which it is useful 
to possess information. It is, therefore, desirable that some 
alteration, or rather extension, of these abbreviations should be 
contrived, something after the following manner: — v.v.et ex, 
jl. ov.fr, 5.; “ seen alive and examined, flower, ovarium, fruit, 
and seed if all these are named, they will all have been exa- 
mined; if part only, then the other parts will be understood 
not to have been examined. The great necessity of making 
some such addition as this will, I am sure, be felt by every 
one accustomed to consult botanical works. At all events, it 
is indispensable that it should be stated whether a plant has 
been examined sufficiently, as well as seen; because merely 
to inspect a plant in a herbarium will often enable the ob- 
server to form but a very imperfect idea of its organisation. 
For this reason I have introduced the abbreviation exam, 
(examinavi) into some of my own works, thus : — 
“ Habitat in Mexico ; Pavoni, (exam, s, sp, in Herb, 
Lambert.) ” 
Connected with this subject is the mode of stating the 
native countries of plants, and of citing the authorities upon 
which the statement is made. For this purpose the two rules 
of De Candolle are unexceptionable. 
1. If you have yourself seen a specimen collected in its 
native country, then the name of the collector, which is 
placed immediately after that of the country, is printed in 
italics : but, 2. If you have no other authority for the habi- 
tation than some printed book or manuscripts, then the name 
of the author from whom you derive your information is 
printed in Roman characters; thus: — 
‘‘ Hab. in Mexico, Graham ; Caribaeis, Jacquin ; Florida, 
, Frazer ; Louisiana, Rafinesque.” 
Here it is seen that you have examined Mexican specimens 
collected by Mr. Graham, and Florida ones from Frazer ; 
but that you trust to the writings of Jacquin and Rafinesque 
for its being also found in the West Indies and in Louisiana. 
