H 
status of degenerate or vegetative forms such as the fungi imperfecti, 
etc., it is believed that the whole subject should be treated sepa- 
rately, as has been wisely suggested by our honored Swiss and Bel- 
gian colleagues. 
2. The Relation of the Specific Name to the Binomial 
Combination. 
During the last fifteen years several efforts have been made to 
unify botanical nomenclature and render it consistent with itself. In 
the course of these as yet unsuccessful reforms it has become evident 
to those botanists to whom nomenclature is a means to an end rather 
than an independent science, that a strict and consistent application 
of priority from 1753 would bring about an amount of change quite 
beyond that which would be convenient or practical in a science 
which must always rest largely upon the works of the past century. 
The inconvenience of the reforms has come chiefly from the enor- 
mous number of new binomial and trinomial combinations ^ which 
have been created. A very considerable part of these state no new 
classificatory facts. They have been framed to replace existing 
names on the ground that the latter had not been formed in accord- 
ance with certain laws. In order that the resulting nomenclature 
might have greater definiteness many new rules have been proposed, 
several of these being of an arbitrary character and introducing prac- 
tices wholly unknown to even the most critical among the writers of’ 
past generations. With each alteration of old rules or addition of 
new ones, the reformers have felt justified in making the new combi- 
nations required. These changes have become very annoying to the 
investigating botanist, and it is more and more apparent that the 
rules, notwithstanding the conscientious intent of their authors, have 
proved an excuse for change rather than a means of stability ; for 
even a slight alteration of rules will often necessitate hundreds of 
changes of binomial and trinomial combinations, adding greatly to 
an already enormous and burdensome synonymy. 
1 By trinomial is here meant any combination of a binomial with a name indi- 
cating a subdivision of a species, however the latter may be written. E. g. 
Gerardia pedicularta^ var. pectinata, or Rtimex obtusifolhis ß divaricatus, or the, 
as we believe, less desirable foim Ilex monticola mollis. 
