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NOTES ON ENGLISH RUBI.
By W. 0. FocKE, M.D.
Considering the great number of European Rubi hitherto
described, our knowledge of the genus ought to be very complete.
There will be, however, little doubt about tlie fact that exactly the
contrary is the case. Specimens that cannot be named by the best
authorities are of frequent occurrence. In the year 1857, when I
began the study of brambles, we possessed, besides forty or fifty
synonyms and incomplete sketches, less than a hundred descriptions
of European Rubi deserving regard. Since that time botanists
have done much work in the genus, and the mean annual production
of new species may have amounted to fifty or sixty, or
more. In this way the industry of botanical writers has given
us more than 2000 names of European brambles. Perhaps the
variety of these plants may be great enough for establishing such
an astonishing number of different kinds—I dare not say species, a
term which would be not quite adequate, even in its Jordanian
meaning. If, however, considering the manifoldness of Nature, the
facts would involve perhaps no serious objection to the real
existence of much more than a thousand so-called species, there
can be no doubt that the limited capacities of the human mind
would not permit a clear distinction of such a multitude of closely-
allied forms. A student of our brambles will be able to catch,
during the first summer, the distinctive marks of about twenty
species. After some years he may become acquainted with 60, or
100, or even more European brambles; but then it will be very
difficult, if not quite impossible, for him to distinguish every year
twenty new forms more, and to keep them separate from all the
other species he already knows. But if we admit he would be able
to do this, it must be nevertheless a hopeless attempt to follow the
rapid progress of the pretended science describing year after year
about sixty new species.
It is a general rule in science that every one who proposes a new
species must distinguish it from all related forms hitherto known.
At present, in the case of the European Rubi, the most accomplished
erudition cann jt comprehend more than perhaps a third or fourth
part of all described " species." The most ignorant beginner
therefore may fancy that no great difference exists between him
who knows scarcely more than nothing, and the best authorities,
who know not very much. \Vhy should he not give new names, as
many others have done before him ?
The practice of fabricating the mentioned abundance of new
names has been a continental folly. For a long time really scientific
men like Prof. Babington and Mr. J. CI. Baker have been the
leading English rubologists, and their authority has been great
enough to prevent all attempts at following the example of P. J.
Mueller, Gandoger, and others.
Every one who has been occupied in the study of Rubi knows
very well that neither the perusal of descriptions nor the conipari.sou
JuuuNAL OK Botany.— Vol.. '2H. [Ai-iin., iHliO.j u