SOME PROBLEMS OF TAXONOMY 
305 
would help, to whom a real and conclusive stabilization of nomen- 
clature would be invaluable. 
We have the International Rules. They are clear and appli- 
cable, and with the settlement of European difficulties it should 
be possible to arbitrate properly the few doubtful points which 
may arise. Why should not everv systematist suppress his per- 
sonal desires, accept the few changes which result from the use 
of the rules, and establish for all time this important, but none 
the less accessory, framework of science? 
Note: This paper was written in the winter of 1921-22, revised and 
placed essentially in its present form in the Fall of 1922, and brought out 
again in the early Spring of 1924, On the eve of its publication the writer’s 
attention was caught by an article by Professor E. B. Babcock,^ a botanist, 
in which reference was made to Hall and Clements’ “Phylogenetic Method in 
Taxonomy,”'® The striking degree of agreement between the views ex- 
pressed in the latter paper and in the preceding pages, where they touch 
upon the same subjects, is such as to compel its mention here. It seems that 
both botanists and zoologists are agreed upon the requirements of this 
branch of science, and we may hope that the future will extend the valuable 
renovation of methods which the present has begun. 
Babcock, E. B., Genetics and Plant Taxonomy, Science LIX, 327, 1924. 
Hall, H. M. and Clements, F. E., The Phylogenetic Method in Taxonomy, 
Carnegie Inst, of Washington, Publication No. 326, 1923. 
