arranging themselves. All that trinomialism promises is, besides giving the name or number distinguishing the given form, to show the subordinate arrangement; not only, to continue our former metaphor, to indicate the pigeon-holes where the record of our knowledge lies, but also to show in what compartment of a given pigeon-hole our special information may be found.

So far as I see at present, there is no valid objection to trinomialism save aversion to change from established usage. But surely convenience ranks above conservatism. If science progresses, so must its usages. As knowledge becomes enlarged, and finds itself bound to observe more minute differences, it is also bound to adopt means to keep its discoveries more easy of reference. And this is the raison d'être of trinomialism.

It is perhaps in the employment of the principles of trinomialism that the greatest bar to its adoption will be found; and in this regard I cannot do better than quote the words in which Dr. Coues has formulated “the definite principle and rule of action in the application of trinomials." He says (Zoologist, July, 1884, p. 243): "The third term of the technical name is given to climatic or geographical races, varying according to known conditions, as latitude, elevation, temperature, moisture, and conditions of all sorts. The practice, therefore, has a logical basis, a consistent possibility of strict scientific application. It appears

to me," he goes on, "to be a simple, natural and easy way of disposing of a large number of intermediate forms which have not become specifically distinct from their respective nearest allies. It is quite true that the recognition of this result of climatic conditions is largely a matter of tact and judgment, and that it is not always possible to say whether a given organism is or is not 'specifically' distinct from another." If, indeed, a right use of trinomials be not made, of course the adoption of the practice will be a greater evil than the very confusion which it has been introduced to remedy; so true is the old monkish adage, Corruptio optimi est pessima.

The chief question to my mind is, whether trinomialism, as at present understood, goes far enough. Science extends her empire so rapidly that even this device may hereafter prove insufficient. But it is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, and it behoves us all to look forward as well as back; and as a ready means of cataloguing discoveries already made, I think we ought to hail it, not with cavilling, but with delight. It is too late now to refuse trinomialism a trial; if it fails to stand the ordeal through which it must pass, let it fail through its own insufficiency, and not from our temporary antagonism.

The changes that may come after the definite adoption of the doctrine of trinomialism I dare not prophesy. But it seems to me to be only logical that, when we have admitted subspecies, we should also admit subgenera; as botanists have long done, to the infinite elucidation of their department of biology. And then, again, we shall have to acknowledge varieties, or minutely differentiated forms, below the rank even of subspecies. Nor is the power of man to produce alteration of very obvious characteristics to be neglected; for instance, the domestic fowl and pigeon have been so varied from their respective prototypes that the actual wild form of each is not quite beyond the province of conjecture;

just as the wheat we live upon, and the mignonette we love, have no archetypes among any of the wild plants that we know. Such artificially created types as these cannot be ignored by the Linnæus of the future. And the indubitable occurrence of hybrids between different species in a wild state, and the power of these hybrids to transmit their characteristics to a posterity to which "reversion" is practically unknown, may necessitate some measure, in the days to come, for recognising and recording them. As the sphere of knowledge is extended, the range of scientific methods must be extended also. That which satisfied Aristotle and Pliny and their followers did not satisfy Linnæus; why then should we hold the best that Linnæus could devise incapable of improvement now? The sooner we face the facts, the more intelligibly shall we be able to hand down our conquests of the Unconditioned to those who will come after us. Observations are every day becoming useless, for no other reason than that the forms to which they referred were insufficiently identified. The more a science

grows, the more minute must be the subdivision of its records.

I have shown that binomialism was a gradual, an inevitable, and a useful growth. I believe that a very short time will show that trinomialism is its inevitable outcome and successor.

Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club.

1885.

THE Annual Meeting of this Club was held on Thursday in the Club-room at the Free
Library, Hereford. The following meetings were fixed upon for the present year :-
Tuesday, May 19th.-Llanvihangel, for Patricio and Gaer Camp.
Thursday, June 18th.-Hereford, for Aconbury Camp and Priory.

Thursday, July 9th (The Ladies' Day).-Abergavenny, for the Sugar-Loaf Mountain and the Castle Grounds.

Thursday, August 27th.-Leominster, for Blackwardine and Risbury Camp. Thursday, October 8th.-Hereford, for the Fungus Foray.

The general financial statements of the Club, and of the Herefordshire Pomona, were laid before the meeting, and the ordinary business of the Club transacted.

The Rev. W. H. Lambert, of Stoke Edith, and Mr. C. P. Bird, of Drybridge House, Hereford, were elected as members.

The following gentlemen attended the meeting:-The Rev. C. Burrough, President; Mr. C. G. Martin, President elect; Mr. H. Cecil Moore, VicePresident; Mr. Henry Wilson, President of the Malvern Club; Drs. Bull and Chapman; the Revs. W. Horton and H. B. D. Marshall; Messrs. F. Bainbridge, J. Carless, jun., J. Docking, G. H. Piper, C. Rootes, O. Shellard, and Theophilus Lane, Secretary.

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE

POMONA.

HEREFORDSHIRE

In the original prospectus of The Herefordshire Pomona, the Woolhope Club announced that "it was not intended to make any profit from the work. The "whole money subscribed would be spent on the publication, and, therefore, the "greater number of subscribers there were, the more valuable could each Part be "made by additional plates." This promise has been faithfully kept, and there is thus no want of delicacy in giving some details as to its actual cost. The work has grown so much in size in the course of its production that it has greatly exceeded the original ideas of the promoters. The first part contained six coloured plates, and in the succeeding parts the number advanced to eight, ten, twelve, twelve, thirteen, and in the present concluding part the number given is sixteen. There is a corresponding increase in the letter-press; and as a matter of course a proportionate increase in the cost of production. No trouble has been spared,

nor any expense necessary, to produce the work in an accurate and artistic style. With such rapid increase in size, and so well brought out, it could not be expected to be remunerative at the price at which it has been issued, and it has not been so.

19

RECEIPTS.

EXPENDITURE.

The following Financial Statement will render this evident :

Totals 440 0 0 737 19 0 700 16 0

77 5 10

1956 0 10 Totals 1413 7 0 234 8 635 18 621 14 2 527 17 02233 5

2

copies.

This deficiency will be somewhat lessened by the sale of the few remaining It would have been greater but for some generous donations, which it is very pleasant to record. Mr. Arthur Hutchinson has given donations as the parts appeared, amounting together to £30; and Mr. Thos. Walker, F.L.S., of Tunbridge Wells, sent a cheque for £20 with the kind request "that he might assist the Woolhope Club by contributing towards a work of such national importance." These thoughtful gifts have been highly esteemed, quite apart from their value, since they show so kind and generous an appreciation of the work itself.

The Herefordshire Pomona has been printed by Messrs. Jakeman and Carver, of Hereford, under the immediate superintendence of the Committee. The number of copies has been confined to six hundred, and the low price at which they have been issued, when compared with the cost of production, has not left much margin for the usual trade profits. The Woolhope Club are therefore the more indebted to the Editors of the Gardeners' Chronicle, Journal of Horticulture, The Gardeners' Magazine, and other horticultural publications for their early and repeated notices of the work, which have from the first, been unanimous in its praise. For greater reasons still, the Club is deeply indebted to the Editors of the Saturday Review, Blackwood's Magazine, and the Edinburgh Quarterly Review, for the very full and generous notices they have given of the work, which have not only greatly encouraged the Committee, but have aided materially in the sale of the Pomona.

HENRY G. BULL.

THOMAS CAM.

J. GRIFFITH MORRIS.

April, 1885